Computers

The exhibition centers on the first computer, the Z1. In 1935, Konrad Zuse, a 25-year-old engineer from Berlin, began tinkering with a calculating machine designed to perform all tedious and complicated calculations independently and fully automatically. To make this vision a reality, he took over his parents’ living room with his computer project for several years, rounded up friends to help him build it, and quit his job. Konrad Zuse was a “nerd” long before the term even existed.

In 1938, Konrad Zuse had completed his Z1; the computer was freely programmable and controlled mechanical relays that moved metal pins into two different positions —“0” and “1.” This binary principle still forms the basis of every computer today. The Z1 was destroyed during World War II — which is why Konrad Zuse rebuilt his pioneering computer for the Deutsches Technikmuseum in 1989. Today, you can see this fascinating piece of technological history in the exhibition and trace the evolution from binary mechanical switching elements to today's use of computers.

The inventor Konrad Zuse was anything but satisfied with his first computer model. Although the Z1 functioned in many ways like modern computers, its mechanical switching elements frequently jammed. Zuse therefore replaced them with electromagnetic relays and, in 1941, unveiled his first reliably functional model, the Z3. The Z3 was also destroyed during the bombing raids; the exhibition features a modern replica.

Zuse’s machines were not only victims of destruction; they also played an active role in the devastation of World War II. For the Berlin-based Henschel Aircraft Works, Zuse designed the S1 and S2 special computing machines, which were used to calculate the wing design of glide bombs. A fragment of the wreckage from one such glide bomb is on display in the exhibition and places Zuse’s work in the context of World War II and National Socialism.

In 1941, Konrad Zuse founded the world’s first computer company, Zuse-Apparatebau Berlin. Zuse’s company was classified as “essential to the war effort” and benefited from numerous contracts from the Reich Aviation Ministry. After the war, the newly formed Zuse KG in Hesse developed large-scale computing systems for science, government, and business. Historical film footage shows the large-scale computers on display in action. The exhibition brings to life not only the history of Zuse KG, but also the technological and economic history of the Federal Republic of Germany.  

In the hands-on area, you can also experience the basic principles of computers in an interactive way. Would you like to know how your name is written in computer code, or how a computer can represent everything using only zeros and ones? Then come on by and find out here!