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drum was 5 milliseconds; the much higher operating speed of the electron tubes did not change this. The use of the 10'000 words of the working memory was very flexible. For each word (with 16 decimal places), either a floating-point number (11 valid digits, 3-digit exponent, sign and check digit), a fixed point number (14 digits, sign, check digit) or two instructions (2 digits for instruction type, 1 digit for index register, 4 digits for memory address) could be stored. An example: The
130:, i.e. it was a calculating machine in which program and processed data were stored in the same main memory; thus, numbers, as well as program parts, could be processed automatically. The ERMETH was designed for numerical calculations and worked in true decimal (not dual or hexadecimal) and had instructions for all four basic arithmetic operations with floating-point and fixed-point numbers, but not for processing letters. At the start of operation (1956), it consisted of devices (
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226:. With various technical and financial setbacks, the ERMETH was built up as a one-off unit from 1955 onwards and gradually put into operation from 1956 onwards; it performed its task until October 1963, when it was dismantled and packed. A planned licensed version of ERMETH by a private company did not come about. After spatial alterations a CDC 1604A of
142:, so that each user had to first read in his program, which had already been prepared on punch cards in machine language and then start it by setting the program counter to the first command. Under program control, user data was then read in (from punch cards) and parameter values were requested (via the keyboard) from the user.
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The ERMETH has been used in research and development for very different tasks. The employees of the
Institute of Applied Mathematics used it for their own scientific topics to develop numerical algorithms and working aids in the sense of first operating system components. But they were also active as
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took its place from April 1964. The available computing power at ETH increased by a factor of 100 with the transition from the electromechanical Z4 to the ERMETH, but by a factor of 400 with the transition from the ERMETH with its time-critical magnetic drum memory to the fully electronic CDC 1604A.
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The ERMETH was also used in teaching. Optional programming lectures were held from the 1950s onwards, and there were also exercises (in groups) on the computer system. If students had written a program and transferred it to punched cards, they could hand in their punched card package and, depending
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for Algol 60 programs occupied 4,000 memory cells with double instructions so that 6,000 cells remained available for an application program and its user data. If this was not enough, all 10,000 cells could be used, but only after overwriting the compiler. In this case, however, the compiler had to
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with space for 10,000 words to 16 decimal places (14 digits, sign, check digit), which rotated at 100 revolutions per second, served as the main memory. This also determined the operating speed of the ERMETH per command step, because the average access time to the commands and numbers stored on the
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for the use of machine-independent computer languages in his habilitation thesis on "automatic computation plan production". Thanks to the development of the higher programming language
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consultants and helpers for computing work of other ERMETH users. They came from the ETH and other universities as well as from industry and from civil and military federal agencies.
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153:(Algol 58 and Algol 60), machine-independent programming later became possible; for the input of letters, the ERMETH 1958 had to be supplemented with a paper tape reader.
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In 1955, Heinz
Rutishauser became an associate professor at the ETH Zurich and Ambros Speiser left to the industry, becoming the founding director of the
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ERMETH : Projekt einer elektronischen
Rechenmaschine an der Eidgenössischen Technischen Hochschule in Zürich und bisherige Entwicklungsergebnisse
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318:, Mitteilungen aus dem Institut für angewandte Mathematik an der Eidgenössischen Technischen Hochschule in Zürich; Birkhäuser, Basel 1952.
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Z4 und ERMETH: Maschinen im
Dienste des wissenschaftlichen Rechnens. Interview mit Ambros Speiser und Carl August Zehnder.
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and then exhibited there from 1982 to 2004. Since the end of 2006, it has been on permanent loan from ETH Zurich to the
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in 1945, for the ETH in order to gain experience with a calculating machine during the construction of the ERMETH.
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In: Kommunikation, Museum fĂĽr (Hg.): Loading
History - Computergeschichte(n) aus der Schweiz. Bern 2001, S. 12–21.
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on the program quality, received the expected or a wrong result or even a program abort printed out the next day.
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After its dismantling in 1963, the ERMETH was stored for the time being as an important exhibit for the planned
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be reloaded before the next Algol program from punch cards, which alone took almost an hour.
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when developing the ERMETH. In 1949 Rutishauser and
Speiser undertook study trips to
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Milestones of computer technology. Zur
Geschichte der Mathematik und der Informatik
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of the type
Remington-edge with 90 columns were used, later on also 5-channel
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between 1948 and 1956. It was in use until 1963 and is now displayed at the
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for Algol program input. Data output was either on punched cards or on an
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Gebrauchsanleitung fĂĽr die ERMETH (elektronische
Rechenmaschine der ETH)
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Already in 1952, Heinz Rutishauser had presented the concept of the
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332:. Institut fĂĽr angewandte Mathematik der ETH ZĂĽrich, 1960.
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150 Interessierte bestaunen die Rechenmaschine ERMETH.
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The electrical power consumption of the ERMETH was 30
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Ermeth - der selbstgebaute Computer der ETH ZĂĽrich.
126:The ERMETH had (in contrast to the Z4) a classical
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40:ERMETH (Electronic Calculating Machine of the ETH)
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380:. Berlin/Boston: De Gruyter. pp. 484–506.
364:History of the Seminar for Applied Mathematics
339:NZZ am Sonntag, 22./23. Dezember 2007, S. e17.
279:ERMETH - Elektronische Rechenmaschine der ETH.
156:The ERMETH had an arithmetic unit with 1,500
74:Eduard Stiefel and his two senior assistants
46:in Europe and was developed and built by
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82:were inspired by models in the USA and
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205:IBM Zurich Research Laboratory
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60:Museum of Communication Bern
25:Museum of Communication Bern
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376:Brotherer, Herbert (2015).
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286:KulturgĂĽterkatalog: ERMETH.
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325:. Verlag NZZ, ZĂĽrich 1954.
16:Early Swiss-built computer
293:ERMETH und Lilith im MTW.
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228:Control Data Corporation
128:von Neumann architecture
418:One-of-a-kind computers
366:, retrieved 2021-04-24.
262:Museum of Communication
104:University of Cambridge
290:Zehnder, Carl August.
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100:Princeton University
50:and his team of the
321:Ambros P. Speiser.
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171:Hans Rudolf Schwarz
342:Tobler, Beatrice.
328:Heinz Waldburger.
303:30. November 2006.
92:Harvard University
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23:The ERMETH at the
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335:Trueb, Lucien F.
299:Abrahams, Katja.
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160:. A 1.5-ton
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179:punch cards
116:Konrad Zuse
64:Switzerland
408:ETH Zurich
402:Categories
351:References
258:Winterthur
254:Technorama
235:Deployment
209:RĂĽschlikon
191:typewriter
183:punch tape
56:ETH Zurich
34:The ERMETH
44:computers
309:See also
167:compiler
147:compiler
136:software
132:hardware
112:Zuse Z4
54:at the
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70:Models
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151:Algol
108:EDSAC
382:ISBN
266:Bern
222:and
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