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
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