Nixdorf electronic balancer

This is the first computer developed by Heinz Nixdorf. He started work in July 1952 and it took him 15 months to complete. The electronic balancer is equipped with vacuum tubes. It is a one-off machine built especially for materials management at Rheinisch-Westf„lisches Elektrizit„tswerk (RWE), where it supplemented the work of a Remington Rand tabulating machine, whose mechanical mode of operation was no match for the much faster Nixdorf electronics. Photo: Jan Braun, HNF