50 Years Ago We Constructed the First Hungarian Tube Computer, the M-3: Short Stories from the History of the First Hungarian Computer (1957-1960) - History of Computing: Learning from the Past - page 68

50 Years Ago We Constructed the First Hungarian Tube
Computer, the M-3: Short Stories from the History of the
First Hungarian Computer (1957-1960)
Győző Kovács
John von Neumann Computer Society, Hungary,
Former Secretary General and Vice-President
[e-mail]
Abstact. The M-3 computer was constructed by members of the Cybernetics
Research Group of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (Hung: Magyar Tu-
dományos Akadémia Kibernetikai Kutató Csoportja, abbr. MTA KKCs) from
mid 1957 until the beginning 1959. I was a member of MTA KKCs until 1967.
The Group was established for the sole purpose of constructing the first Hun-
garian electronic tube computer, first the B-1, then the M-3, which began the
age of computers in Hungary. We received the basic design of the M-3 com-
puter - mid 1957 - from the Soviet Union, but we received the necessary parts
(vaves, cuprox diodes, connectors etc.), too, we used only resisitors and capaci-
tors from a Hungarian plant REMIX. The whole mechanical and electronical
consrtruction (logical unites, casing, drum etc.) was done by our mechanical
engineers and our mechanical and electronical workshop.
Keywords: Hungary, MTA KKCs, tube computer, first computer-program in
Hungary, first computer music, drum, first Hungarian computer export.
1 Introduction: The B-1 Computer
The idea of constructing a computer was born in the Central Prison of Hungary. Dur-
ing the very hard Communist era (mainly the late forties and early fifties) the political
leader of the state, the Communist party declared the workers and peasants to be the
ruling class. Some Hungarian intellectuals, considered as the enemies of the commu-
nist political system, were sent to prison by courts of “justice”.
Dr. Rezső Tarján was an insurance mathematician, but in the beginning of the fif-
ties, he became the head of the board of directors in the Ministry of the Industry. He
had a lot of personal and official connections with other mathematicians mainly in the
Western countries, therefore - in 1953 - the political police constructed „a legal pro-
cedure” against him and he was imprisoned. The charge brought against him was:
espionage.
During his prison time, he was working in a technical development organisation of
the prison, KÖMI 401, together with other two intellectuals: József Hatvany physi-
cian and Dr. László Edelényi mechanical engineer.