The two world wars led to many breakthroughs in all areas of science and technology. It was not, however, an easy time to get independently funded inventions off the ground, as German engineer Konrad Zuse (1910-1995) discovered.
In 1936 Zuse invented the Z1, an electromechanical binary computer, but it was completely obliterated by World War II bombing that left no trace of it or its blueprints behind. Work on the Z2 was difficult because the war made it impossible for Zuse to work with other computer engineers from Britain or the United States, but he still managed to complete it in 1940. The Z3, a more sophisticated version of the Z2, was finished in 1941, partially funded by contributions from the DVL (the German Experimentation Institution for Aviation). It was the first fully functional program- controlled electromechanical digital computer in the world. Sadly this too was destroyed in the war, but greater care was taken with the Z4, which was moved from country to country to ensure its survival.
One of Zuse's main motivations to create a computer was to make life easier for his fellow engineers and scientists. He had a passionate distaste for performing the long, time-consuming calculations that his profession was so often called upon to make. It was during the time that he was studying as a civil engineer that he began to wish for a machine that would take care of these irksome problems for him.
Although the original Z3 was destroyed, a working reconstruction was made in 1960. It is on permanent display at the Deutsches Museum, Munich.
