Tata Institute of Fundamental Research Automatic Calculator or TIFRAC was the first digital electronic computer to be designed and built in India. It was developed by the scientists at the TIFR and was formally commissioned in 1960 and was named so by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru….
DESIGN AND ASSEMBLY OF A SUPER COMPUTER
In 1995, scientists designed a pilot machine. By late 1956, the machine was operational. It was in 1959 that the machine was developed into a digital computer. TIFRAC had numerous vacuum tubes which were covered within a huge steel rack that measured approximately 18 ft X 2.5 ft X 8 ft. it was developed from modules of 4 ft X 2.5 ft X 8 ft, where each module had steel doors on either side for accessing the circuits. The magnetic core memory of TIFRAC had a capacity of 1024 words, and was later expanded to 2048 words.
WORKING OF TIFRAC
The software of TIFRAC were written in a series of commands of 1’s and 0’s. A punched paper tape was used to print the data from TIFRAC. The output would either be printed out directly or punched on paper tape. A cathode ray tube display system served as an auxiliary output to the computer for analogue and digital display of both graphs and alphanumeric symbols.
BUDDING COMPUTING OPPORTUNITIES
TIFRAC played a key role in understanding of the infrastructural needs and requirement of computing experts needed for establishing the computer industry in India. It created ample opportunities for technical personnel and helped them in the advancement of computer science skills required for operation and maintenance. With the rising demand for TIFRAC, it was operated in two shifts per day so as to cope with the computational requirements of TIFR.
ACQUIRING COMPUTING EXCELLENCE
TIFR scientists required expertise in the maintenance of TIFRAC’s complex electronic system and the hundreds of inter-connected parts inside it. A few scientists who had helped design and build the TIFRAC travelled to American universities. On returning, TIFR set up a committee to supervise more research into large-scale computing. This led to further research using systems like CDC and OLDAP. This made TIFR a major asset for computing excellence in India.
Dr Siddhi Barve
ScienceNow Digital
