Replicating the Manchester Baby: Motives, Methods, and Messages from the Past

Abstract

The University of Manchester's Small-Scale Experimental Machine (SSEM), known as the Baby, was rebuilt as a replica to celebrate, in June 1998, the 50th anniversary of the running of the world's first stored program. This article explains the background of the original Baby, and why and how a replica of it was built. The article concludes with some of the lessons learned from the project.