Belgrade, Federative People’s Republic of Yugoslavia, 1953

Amid the tumultuous and chaotic scenes of anti-American protest and mobilization for the defense of the Greek democracy, a quieter revolution was happening behind the doors of the University of Belgrade. Having been established four years prior, the Nikola Tesla Institute of Computer Science at the University of Belgrade was finally ready for the most important report to the government bodies. CER-10, the first domestically produced digital electronic computer was unveiled before Marshal Tito himself and other members of state committees for industrialization, the economy, and the interior. After initial debut for the government, it was unveiled to the world in a short TV spot and presentation event, which foreign correspondents were invited to. The first digital computer in Southeastern Europe, Belgrade hopes that this will position Yugoslavia at the cutting edge of computing in the region. Increased funding has been devoted to the Nikola Tesla Institute.

CER-10 is impressive both as a technological development for the country and its sheer size. With 2,750 vacuum tubes, 1,700 transistors, 16,000 Germanium diodes and a core memory of 4,096 of 30-bit words, it is capable of performing 1,600 additions per second. While America, the Soviet Union, and other “developed nations” are far ahead of us in computing technology, this 1953 places us as a major player in the computing industry moving forward. Yugoslavia thanks all the computer scientists who came before, not least of which including Alan Turing who the Yugoslav government described as “a great anti-fascist slandered by the imperialists in London,” referring assumedly to the trial last year which resulted in his castration. Soviet scientists and Soviet assistance in the development of CER was also praised in the TV spot, as well as all American computer scientists who, alongside those in the Soviet Union, France, Germany, and the United Kingdom, paved the way for this development.

Only time will tell what comes next!