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:
“What is more pretentiously
useless
or about which
we more pride ourselves?
It leads as often as not
to our undoing.”
—William Carlos Williams (1883–1963)
“The last best hope of earth, two trillion dollars in debt, is spinning out of control, and all we can do is stare at a flickering cathode-ray tube as Ollie “answers” questions on TV while the press, resolutely irrelevant as ever, asks politicians if they have committed adultery. From V-J Day 1945 to this has been, my fellow countrymen, a perfect nightmare.”
—Gore Vidal (b. 1925)