150 people marvel at ERMETH

20-part monster

Prof. em. Carl August Zehnder, who himself had written programs on the ERMETH at the end of the 50ies, presented the bulky monster, consisting of approx. 20 parts, to those present in the garage of the IFW building. Among the computer parts, there is a switchboard containing red, green and white lamps, several equipment cubicles of nearly 3 meters height containing 1'500 electron-pipes and finally working memory in the shape of a 1.5 ton drum. The sole output medium was a type writer which could produce number series only. "Don't be surprised that all the labels are in German - things were like that back then", Zehnder smiled. "ERMETH, by the way, means "Elektronische Rechenmaschine ETH".

Calculating power for all of ETH

Zehnder then recounted the historical development of compuing machines at ETH: back in teh 50ies and 60ies, the Institute for Applied Mathematics supplied all of ETH with calculating power by putting the Z4, built by Konrad Zuse in the 50ies, and the ERMETH – which was built from 1954 to 1957 – at the disposal of ETH scientists. In 1964, ETH bought, for the first time, a computer – the CDD 1604A - built in the industry. ERMETH was 100 times faster than its predecessor Z4 and the CDC 1604A was even 400 times faster than the ERMETH.

Error prone and greedy

Several pioneers in computer science were also present. The engineer who supervised the construction of the ERMETH, Alfred Schai, as well as Prof. Peter Läuchli showed up. Electrical engineer Hans Amman was responsible for the maintenance of ERMETH from 1959 to 1963: "Technology back then was extremely error prone. We had to be on alert day and night in case of a malfunction. At five in the morning, we started testing and warming up the computer", Ammann remembers. "Those were different times – no one could foresee the development of computer science" he says, getting slightly emotional. The high energy consumption of ERMETH proved to be an obstacle. Not uncommonly, the tram lines, when beginning their service in the morning, were disrupted.

A new home in Berne

At the end of the presentation, Ms. Beatrice Tobler of the Muesum for Communication in Berne was presented the ERMETH to be put on display at the museum as a premanent loan. After the ERMETH was discontinued in 1964 it was on display at the Technorama in Winterthur for a long period of time, until the managment there decided to give it back to ETH. Here, the machine was put in storage, awaiting its next fate. Now, the ERMETH will receive a place of honor in the two-storey exhibtion of the Museum for the Development of Computer Science, where it will probably remind visitors for years to come of the wondrous and arduous beginnings of computer science.