TREAC or the TRE Automatic Computer was one of the first British computers, and in the world.
History
TREAC was developed by a group led by Albert Uttley at the Telecommunications Research Establishment (TRE) in Worcestershire.1 The University of Manchester had been developing some of the first computers in the late 1940s and early 1950s. From 1947, the TRE in Worcestershire had been developing computers. The main part of the Manchester team had previously been at TRE. TRE had produced much of the electronics for the United Kingdom (for radar) during World War II, and came under the Ministry of Supply.
Development
TREAC was developed in the early 1950s. TREAC produced the first computer synthesised music. It ran its first computer program in 1953; from 1958 different sorts of computer programs could be written. All information was fed in and fed out on punched paper tape. TREAC was a bit-parallel computer,2 the first in the UK.3
Closure
TREAC was switched off in 1962, and replaced with the Royal Radar Establishment Automatic Computer (RREAC, the UK's first solid state computer).
References
References
- Lavington, Simon H. (May 1980). Early British Computers: The Story of Vintage Computers and the People who Built Them. Bedford, MA: Digital Press. pp. 26–28. ISBN 0-932376-08-8. OCLC 6195866. Retrieved 13 May 2026.. Published in the UK by Manchester University Press (OCLC no. 6964220).
- Uttley, A. M. (1953). "The Telecommunications Research Establishment Parallel Electronic Digital Computer". In Bowden, B.V. (ed.). Faster Than Thought. London: Sir Isaac Pitman & Sons Ltd. pp. 144–160. Retrieved 13 May 2026.
- Lavington, Simon H. (May 1980). Early British Computers: The Story of Vintage Computers and the People who Built Them. Bedford, MA: Digital Press. pp. 54–56. ISBN 0-932376-08-8. OCLC 6195866. Retrieved 13 May 2026.
From 1947 to 1953 Malvern also housed Dr A. M. Uttley's Telecommunications Research Establishment team developing the TREAC computer. TREAC was the only parallel computer being designed in Britain at the time.
. From the image caption on p. 55: "The Telecommunications Research Establishment’s TREAC computer, also operational in 1953. This was the first parallel electronic computer in the country.".