World's first computer bug - photo

[Altair]

World's first computer bug, a moth trapped inside Harvard's Mark II computer in 1947.

Fullsize image: https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/h...g_fullsize.jpg



Previously:

ENIAC data cable - GIF
Magnetic-core memory - photo
Cray-1 supercomputer - photo
4.5 megabytes of data represented by punch cards - photo
Changing ENIAC's vacuum tubes - photo

[bruce.desertrat]

Documented by Grace Hopper.

https://daily.jstor.org/the-bug-in-t...ter-bug-story/

I've always thought that this indicated they they'd had problems like this before, but this is the first time they'd actually found the culprit. I would expect a computer built of vacuum tubes would have a lot of problems with moths, being full of warm spaces with glowing lights.

[WmRMeyers]

Documented by Grace Hopper.

https://daily.jstor.org/the-bug-in-t...ter-bug-story/

I've always thought that this indicated they they'd had problems like this before, but this is the first time they'd actually found the culprit. I would expect a computer built of vacuum tubes would have a lot of problems with moths, being full of warm spaces with glowing lights.

Run enough current through a moth's body, and they dry out. Keep slamming the relays, and they'll eventually turn to powder. Might have something to do with not finding that many of them. Or not.

bill