The Z4 computer was the world's first commercial digital computer, designed by German engineer Konrad Zuse and built by his company Zuse KG. A Lego RCX Computer is an example of an embedded computer used to control mechanical devices. ... Konrad Zuse (1992) Statue in Bad Hersfeld Konrad Zuse (June 22, 1910 – December 18, 1995) was a German engineer and computer pioneer. ...

It was delivered to ETH Zürich, Switzerland, in September 1950. In 1954, the Z4 was transferred to the Institut Franco-Allemand des Recherches de St. Louis in France, where it was in use until 1959. Today, the Z4 is on display in the Deutsche Museum in Munich. ETH Zurich (from its German name Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich, ETHZ) is the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zürich, Switzerland. ... 1950 (MCML) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... Munich (German: München, (pronounced listen) is the capital of the German Federal State of Bavaria (German: Freistaat Bayern). ...

The Z4 inspired the ETH to build its own computer (mainly by Ambrosius P. Speiser), which was called ERMETH, an acronym for "Elektronische Rechenmaschine ETH" (i.e. Electronic Computing Machine ETH).

In 1950/1951 the Z4 was the only working digital computer in continental Europe, and the first digital computer in the world to be sold, beating the Ferranti Mark I by five months and the UNIVAC I by ten months. Other computers, all numbered with a leading Z, were built by Zuse and his company. Notable are the Z11, which was sold to the optics industry and to universities, and the Z22, the first computer with a memory based on magnetic storage. The Ferranti Mark I was the second commercially available general-purpose computer (first being the Z4 computer), with the first machine delivered in February 1951, just beating the UNIVAC I. The machine was built by Ferranti of the United Kingdom. ... UNIVAC I central complex, containing the central processor and mercury memory. ... After the Z1, Z2, Z3, Z4, Z5 and Z11, the Z22 was the seventh computer model Konrad Zuse developed. ...

By 1967, the Zuse KG had built a total of 251 computers. Due to financial problems, the company was then sold to Siemens. Siemens AG (FWB:SIE, NYSE: SI) is the worlds largest electronics company. ...

Quotation:
"The rattling of the Z4 is the only interesting thing about the Zürich night life." (Konrad Zuse)

External links

• Textual and pictorial description of the Z4: history, instruction set and hardware features – At Konrad Zuse's webpages at TU-Berlin