Milestone in global computing history as Manchester’s Ferranti Mark 1 turns 75

The Manchester Small-Scale Experimental Machine, affectionately known as Baby, celebrated its 78th birthday in June.

Now, the Science and Industry Museum is marking another major milestone in Manchester’s computing story as the Ferranti Mark 1 celebrates its 75th anniversary.

Launched in 1951, the Ferranti Mark 1 was the world’s first commercially available general-purpose computer.

Designed and built in Manchester before being sold around the world, it marked the moment when computers became commercial products rather than laboratory experiments. From atomic research to early computer games, its users helped pioneer the digital future.

The path to the Ferranti Mark 1

Earlier, in 1948, Baby had achieved a groundbreaking feat by becoming the first computer to successfully run a program stored in electronic memory. Developed at the University of Manchester, Baby proved the concept that still underpins billions of computers today.

This revolutionary achievement placed Manchester at the forefront of a global technological revolution, cementing the city’s reputation as a world leader in computing innovation.

Baby quickly attracted visitors from around the world. Young engineers and students came to develop new ideas, while mathematician Alan Turing joined the team and made significant contributions to its development.

Among those impressed was government scientist Sir Ben Lockspeiser, who helped secure a government contract for Ferranti to build computers based on Baby’s pioneering design.

From experiment to product

Based in Manchester in 1896, Ferranti was one of Britain’s most innovative electrical engineering companies. Building on Sebastian de Ferranti’s pioneering work in electricity supply, the company expanded into electric appliances, radio, radar, scientific instruments and, ultimately, computing.

Produced on an assembly line, the 1951 Ferranti Mark 1 was the world’s first commercially available general-purpose computer.

Made in Manchester, but sold around the world, it marked the moment when computers became products not just experiments. From atomic calculations to video games, its users pioneered our electronic future.

Ferranti turned the computer from an untidy experiment into an attractive product ready for market. Messy webs of electronics were tidied up and hidden away in metal cabinets.

Components were built into “logic doors” that could be opened to give easy access inside for repairs. The operator ran the machine from a neat control desk with screens, switches, and teletype machines.

The first customer was the University of Manchester, who took delivery in February 1951 and officially inaugurated the machine with a ceremony in July.

New displays celebrate Manchester’s computing pioneers

To mark the anniversary, the Science and Industry Museum has refreshed its computing displays with new objects, photographs and personal stories that explore the role of the Ferranti Mark 1 in shaping today’s digital landscape.

Highlights include:

• A personal account from pioneering Ferranti Mark 1 programmer Mary Lee Woods, who later became the mother of World Wide Web inventor Tim Berners-Lee.
• The only known photograph of Alan Turing with a computer, showing him alongside fellow engineers with the Ferranti Mark 1. The image was later featured in Ferranti sales brochures.
• Rainbow Turing, a portrait by Manchester artist Baiba Auria celebrating Turing’s enduring significance within the city’s LGBTQ+ community.
• A logic door from the Ferranti Mark 1* sold to the Stockport-based aeroplane company, Avro, illustrating how Ferranti engineered computers to be easier to maintain and repair.
• Images of female programmers working with Ferranti, as well female workers assembling parts for Ferranti Mark 1 at a factory in Moston.

The centre piece of the display is the museum’s iconic full-scale replica of the original Baby. Painstakingly constructed using historic components from the period with the guidance of Tom Kilburn and Geoff Tootill, two of the original machine’s designers, Baby captivates and delights hundreds of thousands of visitors each year at the Science and Industry Museum in Manchester.

Brought to life by a talented team of volunteers who demonstrate the machine in action, Baby is one of the world’s only operational first-generation computers. The original no longer exists, having been taken apart to be used in later computers, so this is the closest people can get to an important piece of computing history, which took place right here in the city.

Thomas Lean, Project Curator at the Science and Industry Museum, said:

“Today it’s difficult to imagine life without computers, but in the early 1950s Manchester was on the verge of becoming the first place in the world to sell them.

“In 1951, Manchester’s own Ferranti launched the world’s first commercial general-purpose computer, building on the pioneering work of Baby, developed at the University of Manchester. Mathematician Alan Turing worked alongside engineers and programmers, including Mary Lee Woods, later Mary Lee Berners-Lee, whose son Tim Berners-Lee would go on to invent the World Wide Web.

“The Ferranti Mark 1 marked the moment computing moved beyond the laboratory and into the wider world. Together, Baby and the Ferranti Mark 1 laid the foundations for the digital age.

“At the Science and Industry Museum we continue to tell these remarkable stories alongside cutting-edge innovations such as SpiNNaker, also developed at the University of Manchester, celebrating the city’s continuing leadership in computer science and inspiring the next generation of engineers and innovators.”

Today, technology that is millions of times faster than both Baby and the Ferranti Mark 1 is commonplace in homes, workplaces and pockets around the world.

Nevertheless, it can be argued that these machines helped lay the foundations for everything that came after, from the World Wide Web and computer games to artificial intelligence and electronic music. Not bad for machines with less processing power than a modern pocket calculator.

To mark the millstone anniversary, new curator talks will take place next week at the museum. On Wednesday 8 and Thursday 9 July at 14:45 and 15.30, join curator and historian of computing, Tom Lean, to discover more about our new displays around Manchester’s Ferranti Mark 1.