Parametron: The 50s Japanese Computer That Ran on Ferrite Cores, Not Tubes or Transistors
Parametron: 50s Japanese computer that uses neither transistors nor vacuum tubes
In 1954, Eiichi Goto invented the parametron, a logic element using ferrite cores and parametric oscillation, at the University of Tokyo. Costing just 5 yen per core versus 1,000 yen for a vacuum tube, it powered the PC-1, Japan's first university-built stored-program computer, completed in 1958. The parametron's low cost and stability shaped Japan's early computing and nurtured its first generation of computer engineers.
At the time, vacuum tubes cost 1,000 yen each, and transistors cost 8,000 yen each. In comparison, ferrite cores cost just 5 yen each. So I thought, why not use ferrite cores as the material?