Williams Tube

The Williams tube, better called the Williams-Kilburn tube (after inventors Freddie Williams and Tom Kilburn), developed in 1946 and 1947, was a cathode ray tube used as a computer memory to electronically store binary data.

It was the first random-access digital storage device, and was used successfully in several early computers.

Williams and Kilburn applied for British patents on Dec. 11, 1946 and Oct. 2, 1947, followed by US patent applications on Dec. 10, 1947 (U.S. Patent 2,951,176) and May 16, 1949 (U.S. Patent 2,777,971).

Read more about Williams Tube:  Working Principle, Development

Famous quotes containing the words williams and/or tube:

    Sure
    love is cruel
    and selfish
    and totally obtuse—
    at least, blinded by the light,
    young love is.
    —William Carlos Williams (1883–1963)

    One of the great natural phenomena is the way in which a tube of toothpaste suddenly empties itself when it hears that you are planning a trip, so that when you come to pack it is just a twisted shell of its former self, with not even a cubic millimeter left to be squeezed out.
    Robert Benchley (1889–1945)