BESK
Sign in to savethumb|BESK control panel thumb|Drum memory (bottom) and core memory (upper right) for the BESK computer
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- electronic device
- Country
- Sweden
- Based on
- IAS machine
- Image
- BESK Computer Console and Memories.jpg
- Has use
- calculation
- Has parts of class
- Williams tube
Show 7 more facts
- power consumed
- 15
- Commons category
- BESK
- inception
- 1950-00-00
- service retirement
- 1966-00-00
- service entry
- 1953-12-00
- significant place
- Drottninggatan
- replaces
- BARK
Sources (1)
via Wikidata · CC0
~6 min read
Encyclopedic overview
6 sectionsContents
- Performance
- Usage
- Trivia
- See also
- References
- External links
thumb|BESK control panel thumb|Drum memory (bottom) and core memory (upper right) for the BESK computer
BESK (Binär Elektronisk SekvensKalkylator, Swedish for "Binary Electronic Sequence Calculator") was Sweden's first electronic computer, using vacuum tubes instead of relays. It was developed by Matematikmaskinnämnden (Swedish Board for Computing Machinery) and for a short time it was the fastest computer in the world. The computer was completed in 1953 and was in use until 1966. The technology behind BESK was later continued with the FACIT EDB and FACIT EDB-3 machines, both software compatible with BESK. Non-compatible machines highly inspired by BESK were SMIL made for the University of Lund, SAABs räkneautomat SARA, "SAAB's calculating machine", and DASK made in Denmark.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “BESK” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.