Editing History of computing hardware (section)

===Manchester Mark 1===
The SSEM led to the development of the [[Manchester Mark 1]] at the University of Manchester.{{sfn|Lavington|1998|p=20}} Work began in August 1948, and the first version was operational by April 1949; a program written to search for [[Mersenne prime]]s ran error-free for nine hours on the night of 16/17 June 1949. The machine's successful operation was widely reported in the British press, which used the phrase "electronic brain" in describing it to their readers.

The computer is especially historically significant because of its pioneering inclusion of [[index register]]s, an innovation which made it easier for a program to read sequentially through an array of [[Word (data type)|words]] in memory. Thirty-four patents resulted from the machine's development, and many of the ideas behind its design were incorporated in subsequent commercial products such as the {{nowrap|[[IBM 701]]}} and [[IBM 702|702]] as well as the Ferranti Mark 1. The chief designers, [[Frederic Calland Williams|Frederic C. Williams]] and [[Tom Kilburn]], concluded from their experiences with the Mark&nbsp;1 that computers would be used more in scientific roles than in pure mathematics. In 1951 they started development work on [[Meg (computer)|Meg]], the Mark&nbsp;1's successor, which would include a [[floating-point unit]].