Applications of EDSAC
- In 1950, Dr. M. V. Wilkes and Wheeler used EDSAC to solve a differential equation relating to gene frequencies in a paper by Ronald Fisher. This represents the first use of a computer to a problem in the field of biology.
- In 1951, Miller and Wheeler used the machine to discover a 79-digit prime – the largest known at the time.
- In 1952, A.S. Douglas developed OXO, a version of noughts and crosses (tic-tac-toe) for the EDSAC, with graphical output to a cathode ray tube. This may well have been the world's first video game.
- In the 1960s, EDSAC was used to gather numerical evidence about solutions to elliptic curves, which led to the Birch and Swinnerton-Dyer conjecture.
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