The SWAC (Standards Western Automatic Computer) was an early stored program electronic computer built by the U.S National Bureau of Standards at the Institute for Numerical Analysis at the University of California Los Angeles. Construction began in 1948, it was dedicated in mid-1950, and it remained in use at UCLA after the INA closed in 1954, finally being turned off in the mid-1960s.
This plug-in circuit module from the machine has one vacuum tube at one end and an array of other electrical components.
Reference:
P.A. Kidwell, "Promoting Computing in the Postwar United States - The Case of UCLA," IEEE Annals of the History of Computing, vol. 45 #1, April-June 2023, pp. 43-52.
Our collection database is a work in progress. We may update this record based on further research and review. Learn more about our approach to sharing our collection online.
If you would like to know how you can use content on this page, see the Smithsonian's Terms of Use. If you need to request an image for publication or other use, please visit Rights and Reproductions.