<s>
The	O
ERMETH	B-Device
(	O
Electronic	O
Calculating	O
Machine	O
of	O
the	O
ETH	O
)	O
was	O
one	O
of	O
the	O
first	O
computers	O
in	O
Europe	O
and	O
was	O
developed	O
and	O
built	O
by	O
Eduard	O
Stiefel	O
and	O
his	O
team	O
of	O
the	O
Institute	O
for	O
Applied	O
Mathematics	O
at	O
the	O
ETH	O
Zurich	O
between	O
1948	O
and	O
1956	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
was	O
in	O
use	O
until	O
1963	O
and	O
is	O
now	O
displayed	O
at	O
the	O
Museum	O
of	O
Communication	O
Bern	O
(	O
Switzerland	B-Protocol
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Eduard	O
Stiefel	O
and	O
his	O
two	O
senior	O
assistants	O
Heinz	O
Rutishauser	O
and	O
Ambros	O
Speiser	O
were	O
inspired	O
by	O
models	O
in	O
the	O
USA	O
and	O
United	O
Kingdom	O
when	O
developing	O
the	O
ERMETH	B-Device
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
1949	O
Rutishauser	O
and	O
Speiser	O
undertook	O
study	O
trips	O
to	O
Howard	O
Aiken	O
(	O
Harvard	O
University	O
)	O
,	O
John	O
von	O
Neumann	O
(	O
Princeton	O
University	O
)	O
and	O
to	O
the	O
University	O
of	O
Cambridge	O
,	O
which	O
operated	O
the	O
EDSAC	B-Device
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
1950	O
,	O
Stiefel	O
rented	O
for	O
five	O
years	O
the	O
only	O
existing	O
digital	O
computer	O
in	O
continental	O
Europe	O
at	O
that	O
time	O
,	O
the	O
Zuse	B-Device
Z4	I-Device
,	O
completed	O
by	O
Konrad	O
Zuse	O
in	O
1945	O
,	O
for	O
the	O
ETH	O
in	O
order	O
to	O
gain	O
experience	O
with	O
a	O
calculating	O
machine	O
during	O
the	O
construction	O
of	O
the	O
ERMETH	B-Device
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
ERMETH	B-Device
had	O
(	O
in	O
contrast	O
to	O
the	O
Z4	B-Device
)	O
a	O
classical	O
von	B-Architecture
Neumann	I-Architecture
architecture	I-Architecture
,	O
i.e.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
ERMETH	B-Device
was	O
designed	O
for	O
numerical	O
calculations	O
and	O
worked	O
in	O
true	O
decimal	O
(	O
not	O
dual	O
or	O
hexadecimal	O
)	O
and	O
had	O
instructions	O
for	O
all	O
four	O
basic	O
arithmetic	O
operations	O
with	O
floating-point	O
and	O
fixed-point	O
numbers	O
,	O
but	O
not	O
for	O
processing	O
letters	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
At	O
the	O
start	O
of	O
operation	O
(	O
1956	O
)	O
,	O
it	O
consisted	O
of	O
devices	O
(	O
hardware	B-Architecture
)	O
and	O
stored	O
user	O
programs	O
(	O
software	O
)	O
,	O
but	O
had	O
no	O
operating	B-General_Concept
system	I-General_Concept
,	O
so	O
that	O
each	O
user	O
had	O
to	O
first	O
read	O
in	O
his	O
program	O
,	O
which	O
had	O
already	O
been	O
prepared	O
on	O
punch	B-Architecture
cards	I-Architecture
in	O
machine	O
language	O
and	O
then	O
start	O
it	O
by	O
setting	O
the	O
program	O
counter	O
to	O
the	O
first	O
command	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Under	O
program	O
control	O
,	O
user	O
data	O
was	O
then	O
read	O
in	O
(	O
from	O
punch	B-Architecture
cards	I-Architecture
)	O
and	O
parameter	O
values	O
were	O
requested	O
(	O
via	O
the	O
keyboard	O
)	O
from	O
the	O
user	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Already	O
in	O
1952	O
,	O
Heinz	O
Rutishauser	O
had	O
presented	O
the	O
concept	O
of	O
the	O
compiler	B-Language
for	O
the	O
use	O
of	O
machine-independent	O
computer	O
languages	O
in	O
his	O
habilitation	O
thesis	O
on	O
"	O
automatic	O
computation	O
plan	O
production	O
"	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Thanks	O
to	O
the	O
development	O
of	O
the	O
higher	O
programming	O
language	O
Algol	B-Language
(	O
Algol	B-Language
58	O
and	O
Algol	B-Language
60	O
)	O
,	O
machine-independent	O
programming	O
later	O
became	O
possible	O
;	O
for	O
the	O
input	O
of	O
letters	O
,	O
the	O
ERMETH	B-Device
1958	O
had	O
to	O
be	O
supplemented	O
with	O
a	O
paper	O
tape	O
reader	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
ERMETH	B-Device
had	O
an	O
arithmetic	O
unit	O
with	O
1,500	O
electron	O
tubes	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
1.5-ton	O
magnetic	B-General_Concept
drum	I-General_Concept
with	O
space	O
for	O
10,000	O
words	O
to	O
16	O
decimal	O
places	O
(	O
14	O
digits	O
,	O
sign	O
,	O
check	O
digit	O
)	O
,	O
which	O
rotated	O
at	O
100	O
revolutions	O
per	O
second	O
,	O
served	O
as	O
the	O
main	O
memory	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
also	O
determined	O
the	O
operating	O
speed	O
of	O
the	O
ERMETH	B-Device
per	O
command	O
step	O
,	O
because	O
the	O
average	O
access	O
time	O
to	O
the	O
commands	O
and	O
numbers	O
stored	O
on	O
the	O
drum	O
was	O
5	O
milliseconds	O
;	O
the	O
much	O
higher	O
operating	O
speed	O
of	O
the	O
electron	O
tubes	O
did	O
not	O
change	O
this	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
An	O
example	O
:	O
The	O
compiler	B-Language
developed	O
by	O
Hans	O
Rudolf	O
Schwarz	O
for	O
Algol	B-Language
60	O
programs	O
occupied	O
4,000	O
memory	O
cells	O
with	O
double	O
instructions	O
so	O
that	O
6,000	O
cells	O
remained	O
available	O
for	O
an	O
application	O
program	O
and	O
its	O
user	O
data	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
If	O
this	O
was	O
not	O
enough	O
,	O
all	O
10,000	O
cells	O
could	O
be	O
used	O
,	O
but	O
only	O
after	O
overwriting	O
the	O
compiler	B-Language
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
this	O
case	O
,	O
however	O
,	O
the	O
compiler	B-Language
had	O
to	O
be	O
reloaded	O
before	O
the	O
next	O
Algol	B-Language
program	O
from	O
punch	B-Architecture
cards	I-Architecture
,	O
which	O
alone	O
took	O
almost	O
an	O
hour	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
For	O
numerical	O
data	O
input	O
,	O
mainly	O
punch	B-Architecture
cards	I-Architecture
of	O
the	O
type	O
Remington-edge	O
with	O
90	O
columns	O
were	O
used	O
,	O
later	O
on	O
also	O
5-channel	O
punch	O
tape	O
for	O
Algol	B-Language
program	O
input	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Data	O
output	O
was	O
either	O
on	O
punched	B-Architecture
cards	I-Architecture
or	O
on	O
an	O
IBM-typewriter	O
,	O
which	O
,	O
however	O
,	O
also	O
output	O
only	O
digits	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Thus	O
,	O
punched	B-Architecture
cards	I-Architecture
could	O
also	O
be	O
used	O
for	O
intermediate	O
storage	O
of	O
large	O
amounts	O
of	O
data	O
as	O
secondary	O
storage	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
electrical	O
power	O
consumption	O
of	O
the	O
ERMETH	B-Device
was	O
30	O
kW	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
From	O
there	O
on	O
,	O
the	O
completion	O
of	O
the	O
ERMETH	B-Device
was	O
supervised	O
by	O
and	O
Alfred	O
Schai	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
With	O
various	O
technical	O
and	O
financial	O
setbacks	O
,	O
the	O
ERMETH	B-Device
was	O
built	O
up	O
as	O
a	O
one-off	O
unit	O
from	O
1955	O
onwards	O
and	O
gradually	O
put	O
into	O
operation	O
from	O
1956	O
onwards	O
;	O
it	O
performed	O
its	O
task	O
until	O
October	O
1963	O
,	O
when	O
it	O
was	O
dismantled	O
and	O
packed	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
planned	O
licensed	O
version	O
of	O
ERMETH	B-Device
by	O
a	O
private	O
company	O
did	O
not	O
come	O
about	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
available	O
computing	O
power	O
at	O
ETH	O
increased	O
by	O
a	O
factor	O
of	O
100	O
with	O
the	O
transition	O
from	O
the	O
electromechanical	O
Z4	B-Device
to	O
the	O
ERMETH	B-Device
,	O
but	O
by	O
a	O
factor	O
of	O
400	O
with	O
the	O
transition	O
from	O
the	O
ERMETH	B-Device
with	O
its	O
time-critical	O
magnetic	B-General_Concept
drum	I-General_Concept
memory	I-General_Concept
to	O
the	O
fully	O
electronic	O
CDC	O
1604A	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
ERMETH	B-Device
has	O
been	O
used	O
in	O
research	O
and	O
development	O
for	O
very	O
different	O
tasks	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
employees	O
of	O
the	O
Institute	O
of	O
Applied	O
Mathematics	O
used	O
it	O
for	O
their	O
own	O
scientific	O
topics	O
to	O
develop	O
numerical	O
algorithms	O
and	O
working	O
aids	O
in	O
the	O
sense	O
of	O
first	O
operating	B-General_Concept
system	I-General_Concept
components	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
But	O
they	O
were	O
also	O
active	O
as	O
consultants	O
and	O
helpers	O
for	O
computing	O
work	O
of	O
other	O
ERMETH	B-Device
users	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
ERMETH	B-Device
was	O
also	O
used	O
in	O
teaching	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
If	O
students	O
had	O
written	O
a	O
program	O
and	O
transferred	O
it	O
to	O
punched	B-Architecture
cards	I-Architecture
,	O
they	O
could	O
hand	O
in	O
their	O
punched	B-Architecture
card	I-Architecture
package	O
and	O
,	O
depending	O
on	O
the	O
program	O
quality	O
,	O
received	O
the	O
expected	O
or	O
a	O
wrong	O
result	O
or	O
even	O
a	O
program	O
abort	O
printed	O
out	O
the	O
next	O
day	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
After	O
its	O
dismantling	O
in	O
1963	O
,	O
the	O
ERMETH	B-Device
was	O
stored	O
for	O
the	O
time	O
being	O
as	O
an	O
important	O
exhibit	O
for	O
the	O
planned	O
Technorama	O
in	O
Winterthur	O
and	O
then	O
exhibited	O
there	O
from	O
1982-2004	O
.	O
</s>
