1950
Zuse sells the first Z4 computer

Between 1942 and 1945, Konrad Zuse built the Z4, one of the world's first commercial digital computers.

The Z4 was was an electromechanical machine, similar to the Z3 but with a number of significant enhancements, including a square root function, punch tape output, multiple tape input units, and a conditional branch instruction.

Construction of the Z4 began in Berlin, but as World War II raged, in February 1945 the machine was evacuated from Berlin to Göttingen where work was completed.

In 1949, the Swiss mathematician Eduard Stiefel visited Zuse to inspect the Z4. After the machine successfully solved a problem Stiefel set for it, he bought the Z4 for the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH Zurich). It was delivered to ETH Zurich in September 1950.

Today, the original Z4 is on display in the Deutsches Museum in Munich.

Related information:

• The Konrad Zuse Internet Archive

Image:

• The original Zuse Z4 in the Deutsches Museum, München.
  Credit: Clemens PFEIFFER, CC BY 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons.

Related Items in the Collection:

Konrad Zuse builds the Z2

Konrad Zuse patents fundamental ideas for Z1

Konrad Zuse builds the Z1

Konrad Zuse builds the Z3