IBM 650
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The IBM 650 Magnetic Drum Data-Processing Machine is an early digital computer produced by IBM in the mid-1950s. It was the first mass-produced computer in the world. Almost 2,000 systems were produce
Part of the first IBM 650 computer in Norway (1959), known as "EMMA". 650 Console Unit (right, an exterior side panel is open), 533 Card Read Punch unit (middle, input-output). 655 Power Unit is missing. Punched card sorter (left, not part of the 650). Now at Norwegian Museum of Science and Technology in Oslo.
IBM 650 at Texas A&M University. The IBM 533 Card Read Punch unit is on the right.
IBM 650 console panel, showing bi-quinary indicators. Note wear marks around frequently used switches, lower right. Collection of the Museo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología. A Coruña (Galicia, Spain).
Close-up of bi-quinary indicators
The Art of Computer Programming is a comprehensive multi-volume monograph written by the computer scientist Donald Knuth presenting programming algorithms and their analysis. As of 2026 it consists of
IBM 650
…10.2 ms. Multiplies took between 23 and 253 word times and divides between 63 and 293 (2.2 to 24.3 and 6.0 to 28.1 ms.) Donald Knuth's series of books The Art of Computer Programming is famously dedicated to a 650. The first 650 was installed on December 8, 1954 in the controller's department of the John Hancock Mutual Life Insurance…
Volumes 1 to 4B
Donald Knuth in 2005