Computing, IT & AI
TIFRAC, the first computer built in India
1955-1960 CETata Institute of Fundamental Research (R. Narasimhan and team)TIFR Pilot Machine (1956); TIFRAC commissioned 1960Maharashtra
1955
A stored-program electronic digital computer designed and built at TIFR, Bombay.
- Dated
- 1955–1960
- As scholars put it
- 1955-1960 CE
- Originator
- Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (R. Narasimhan and team)
- Source text
- TIFR Pilot Machine (1956); TIFRAC commissioned 1960
- Region
- Maharashtra
- Discipline
- Computing, IT & AI
- Evidence
- Documented
- Confidence
- High
- Verification
- Verified-web
Background
Homi Bhabha's TIFR began a computer project in 1955. A pilot machine ran in 1956, and the full machine, based on the IAS machine design, was commissioned in 1960 and named TIFRAC by Jawaharlal Nehru. It used 2,700 vacuum tubes and 2,048 40-bit words of ferrite core memory, and was in use until 1965.
Significance
Among the first computers built in Asia outside Japan, and an early adopter of ferrite core memory. It trained the first generation of Indian computer engineers and showed that India could design computers rather than only import them.
Path to modern innovation
The starting point of India's computer engineering.
Global impact
- TIFR's computer group went on to shape India's early computer policy and education.
Further reading
Related
Corrections and additional sources: edit IND-374 on GitHub.