With two super-speed monolithic calculators already tucked safely under their belts, Harvard's mathematical wizards have began work on a new machine that may well prove to be the fastest of them all.
Termed "Mark HI" by the staff of the Computation Laboratory, the mechanical brain follows closely on the heels of the originals IBM automatic calculator and the recent "Mark II," now in the process of testing at Gordon McKay labs.
The new calculator, based on the principle of vacuum tubes, will be intrinsically different from its two predecessors, which are respectively electromagnetic and electro-mechanical.
The use of electronics will make the machine over 200 times as fast as Mark I, which itself can solve any 23-place multiplication problem in less than five seconds. A large internal memory capacity will also be featured.
Further details on the super-brain, however, could not be revealed until a report was drawn up and submitted to the Navy ordnance department, for whom the project is intended.
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