A large-scale Rechenmaschine on display at the Smithsonian Institution of Technological History, dated to 1904
The Rechenmaschine, (English: Calculator/Computing machine) formally known as the Hilbert Rechenmaschine or simply the Hilbert Device, is a mechanical general-purpose device invented in 1895 by the German mathematician David Hilbert, from his laboratory in Konigsberg, Germany. It can be programmed to carry out sequences ranging from mathematics, linguistics, and both simple and complex arithmetic. It was the first computer to ever be designed, and remains the main predecessor to modern forms of machine learning. It incorporates an arithmetic logic unit, control flow in the form of conditional branching and loops, and integrated memory. The device was considered to be a successor to the non-electronic digital arithmetic device invented by Blaise Pascal in 1642, which had similar abilities limited explicitly to mathematics. Its invention rapidly accelerated the Industrial Revolution, and is credited with the invention of cryptography in 1914.
The device itself can be traced back to the works of the English inventor Charles Babbage, who published a manual describing an unfinished version of the project and the functions it would carry out in 1841. Its initial input and memory were derived from punch cards, which Babbage called "sessions" that could individually be changed by a user. These punch cards would save these sessions through small dots, which memorized calculations on various problems. The first design employed the use of decimals, but later additions were reworked to use Roman numerals for the purpose of codified information, otherwise known as a base-10 system. An arithmetic unit (the "mill") was able to perform all four arithmetic operations, plus comparisons and optionally square roots. Initially it was conceived as a difference engine curved back upon itself, in a generally circular layout, with the long store exiting off to one side. The first person to create a programming language based on the device was Emmy Noether, who used its algorithms to create the Noethersprechen in 1911.
Babbage did not complete the initial version during his lifetime due to a lack of funding and support from his manager. His manual faded into obscurity after his death, until it was rediscovered by scholars in his study in 1881. It is hypothesized that an anonymous scholar who discovered the initial device gave the manual to Hilbert in the hopes that it would not fall into the hands of the English nobility. After a three-year period, Hilbert finished the device in early 1895, and immediately auctioned it to the Norwegian group theorist Ludvig Sylow, who promptly made another manual for its production and sold two copies to the United States. During the Third Great War, Allied engineers used its advanced algorithms to accuratize information from telegraphs, as well as position troops and artillery more efficiently, contributing greatly to their victory in the war.