Editing SILLIAC (section)

==History==
SILLIAC<ref>{{cite book|last = Deane|first = John|title = SILLIAC &ndash; Vacuum Tube Supercomputer|location = Sydney|publisher = Science Foundation for Physics within [[the University of Sydney]], in association with the [[Australian Computer Museum Society]]|year = 2006|isbn = 9781864878448}}</ref> had its genesis in late 1953 when [[Harry Messel]], the dynamic new head of the [[University of Sydney School of Physics|School of Physics]], and [[John Blatt]], newly arrived researcher, both independently realised that the school needed an electronic computer as a tool for [[theoretical physics]].  Whilst the first computer in the southern hemisphere, the [[CSIR Mk 1]], was already running elsewhere on the University of Sydney grounds, there were several serious impediments to its use by the School of Physics:  The CSIR Mk 1 was fully occupied with [[Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation|CSIR]] research and John Blatt found its staff very unhelpful; and, as a [[serial architecture]] computer, it was far too slow for the sort of problems that Blatt and Messel envisaged.  The solution was for the School to build its own computer.

Rather than design a computer from scratch, Blatt and Messel chose to copy the design of the [[ILLIAC]] for which the University of Illinois were happy to provide plans and assistance. [[John Algie]], then maintenance engineer for [[CSIRAC]], estimated the cost at [[Australian pound|AU£]]35,200, which was approximately ten times the cost of a Sydney suburban house at the time.<ref name = SAM_Timelines2021>{{cite magazine|title = The Machine that Advanced Australia into the Computer Age: SILLIAC|last = Dodd|first = George|date = 5 May 2021|magazine = [[Sydney Alumni Magazine]]|publisher=[[The University of Sydney]]|issue = 13|pages = 24–25|url = https://www.sydney.edu.au/news-opinion/news/2021/05/05/silliac-the-machine-that-brought-australia-into-the-computer-age.html|access-date = 11 June 2021}}</ref>  Based on this, a decision to proceed was made at the end of 1953. A mutual friend introduced Messel to [[Adolph Basser]],<ref>{{cite book|last1=Rutledge |first1=Martha |last2=Lemon |first2=Andrew| chapter=Basser, Sir Adolph (1887–1964) |chapter-url=http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/basser-sir-adolph-9447 |title=[[Australian Dictionary of Biography]] |volume=13 |year=1993 |publisher=[[Melbourne University Press]] |access-date=18 October 2018}}</ref> who donated AU£50,000 towards the computer.<ref name=ji>{{cite news |last=Ji |first=Julie |title=Celebrating 50 years of computers at Sydney |url=http://sydney.edu.au/news/84.html?newsstoryid=1254 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071030042301/http://sydney.edu.au/news/84.html?newsstoryid=1254|archive-date = 30 October 2007|access-date=18 October 2018 |publisher=[[The University of Sydney]] |website=University of Sydney News|date=5 September 2006}}</ref><ref name=jacobs>{{cite magazine |last=Jacobs |first=Marie |title=Love at First Byte |magazine=[[Sydney Alumni Magazine]]|date=Winter 2006 |pages=12–15 |url=http://www.alumni.sydney.edu.au/s/965/images/editor_documents/alumni-magazine/06-winter/2006-winter-sam.pdf |publisher=[[The University of Sydney]] |access-date=18 October 2018}}</ref>  SILLIAC's eventual cost was AU£75,000.<ref name=SAM_Timelines2021 />

In July 1954, [[Standard Telephones and Cables]] was contracted to build the computer, with testing and installation performed by technicians within the School of Physics.

SILLIAC's first scientific computation was carried out by PhD student Bob May (later [[Robert May, Baron May of Oxford]]) in June 1956,<ref name = SAM_Timelines2021 /> after self tests had been completed successfully. Another PhD student user in that month was [[John C. Butcher]] (later Professor of Mathematics at the [[University of Auckland]]),.<ref name = Butcher1958>{{cite journal |last1=Butcher |first1=John C. |last2=Chartres |first2=B. A. |last3=Messel |first3=H. |title=Tables of average numbers for electron-photon showers at small depths of absorber |journal=Nuclear Physics |date=1958 |volume=6 |pages=271–281 |doi=10.1016/0029-5582(58)90106-8}}</ref> Users were provided with regular access from July 9, with the official opening conducted on September 12.

Having abandoned its own computer system in 1955, [[CSIRO]] Division of Radiophysics in 1957 rented computing time on SILLIAC at a half-price rate of {{AUD|16000|year=1957}} for 400 hours to perform analysis on data received by its equipment at Murrybank Field.{{sfn|Wendt|Orchiston|Slee|2011|p=450}}

[[Barry de Ferranti]], a pioneer involved in the construction of SILLIAC described the main cabinet of the computer as about 2 metres high, 1 metre deep and 5 metres long with glass panels at the front and light switches that indicated what was going on inside.

It ran until May 17, 1968, when it was replaced by a faster and bigger machine. SILLIAC has now been broken up into pieces with parts of it placed on display in the [[Chau Chak Wing Museum]],<ref name = SAM_Timelines2021 /> which opened in November 2020.<ref>{{cite news|title = Sydney's newest museum opens|date = 16 November 2020|access-date = 11 June 2021|website = University of Sydney News|publisher = [[The University of Sydney]]|url = https://www.sydney.edu.au/news-opinion/news/2020/11/16/sydney-s-newest-museum-opens.html}}</ref>