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Contested Histories: De-mythologising the Early History
of Modern British Computing
David Anderson
University of Portsmouth, “The Newmanry”,
36-40 Middle Street, Portsmouth, Hants, United Kindom, PO5 4BT
Abstract. A challenge is presented to the usual account of the development of
the Manchester Baby which focuses on the contribution made to the project by
the topologist M.H.A. (Max) Newman and other members of the Dept. of
Mathematics. Based on an extensive re-examination of the primary source ma-
terial, it is suggested that a very much more significant role was played by
mathematicians than is allowed for in the dominant discourse. It is shown that
there was a single computer-building project at Manchester in the years imme-
diately following World War II and that it was conceived, led, funded, supplied
and staffed by Newman who was supported throughout by his long-time friend
P.M.S. (Patrick) Blackett. In the course of the paper three persistent myths,
which lend support to the dominant narrative, are identified and debunked.
Keywords: Manchester Baby, SSEM, Max Newman, Patrick Blackett, British
Computing, Historiography.
1 Introduction
It is almost exactly 60 years since the world's first digital electronic stored-program
computer - the Manchester Baby or SSEM -ran for the first time. The story of how
the machine came to be developed by Prof F.C. Williams and Mr. T. Kilburn from the
Dept. of Electro-Technics, without any significant external assistance is well known
and has come, within the sub-discipline of the history of computing, to represent a
dominant historical narrative.
I will offer a challenge to the usual account of the development of the Manches-
ter Baby. In doing so, I will focus on the contribution made to the project by the
topologist M.H.A. (Max) Newman and other members of the Dept. of Mathematics.
Based on an extensive reexamination of the primary source material, I will suggest
that a very much more significant role was played by mathematicians than is al-
lowed for in the dominant discourse. In short, I will show that there was a single
computer-building project at Manchester in the years immediately following World
War II and that it was conceived, led, funded, supplied and staffed by Newman who
was supported throughout by his long-time friend P.M.S. (Patrick) Blackett. I will
identify and debunk three persistent myths, which lend support to the dominant
narrative.
 
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