Whirlwind Summary Report No. 1, 1946
Jay W. Forrester's copy of Project Whirlwind Summary Report No. 1, April 1946. Forrester's ownership stamp is dated June 17, 1946. Dudley Buck archive, Computer History Museum, Mountain View, CA.
Detail map of Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States Overview map of Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States

A: Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States

Jay W. Forrester's Project Whirlwind

1943 to 1951 to 1959
Stephen Dodd, Jay Forrester, Robert Everett, and Ramona Ferenz at Whirlwind I test control in the Barta Building, 1950. The 16-inch  Whirlwind Display Console used by Ferenz was the first com

Stephen Dodd, Jay Forrester, Robert Everett, and Ramona Ferenz at Whirlwind I test control in the Barta Building, 1950. The 16-inch  Whirlwind Display Console used by Ferenz was the first computer video display.

In 1943 Project Whirlwind (Whirlwind I) began as an analog flight simulator project at MIT. About November 1945 the project switched from analog to digital electronics. Formal design of the machine began in 1947.

By 1950 Project Whirlwind was in limited operation at MIT as a general purpose computer. It was the first computer that operated in real time, with the first video display for output, and it was the first computer that was not just an electronic replacement of older mechanical systems. On April 20, 1951 Whirlwind offically began operation at MIT. Whirlwind I included the first primitive graphical display on its vectorscope screen. Whirlwind was not decommissioned until 1959.

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