An iconic piece of computing history, The Manchester Small-Scale Experimental Machine, affectionately nicknamed Baby, celebrates its 77th anniversary on Saturday (21 June 2025).
On 21 June in 1948, Baby accomplished a radical feat by becoming the first electronic computer to store and run a program from memory.
Developed and built at the University of Manchester, Baby’s pioneering technology proved the basic concept still used as the basis for billions of computers today. This ground-breaking achievement propelled Manchester to the forefront of a global technological revolution, and there is still a wealth of technical innovation happening across the city today.
Manchester’s status as a pioneer of computer science was further asserted in 2023, on Baby’s milestone 75th birthday, when the Government announced the Manchester Prize – an annual award of £1m to the UK-based person or team that achieves a significant breakthrough in AI for public good. The award was named in recognition of AI’s roots here in Manchester, and its reputation as a thriving hub of progressive digital technologies and gaming. The latter has expanded rapidly over recent years and has its roots in the same early computer technologies developed over seven decades ago.
Baby sparked a swift progression of computer technology. It was itself quickly upgraded into a more powerful computer, the Manchester Mark 1. In 1951, Manchester-based company, Ferranti, used the Manchester Mark 1 design to produce the world’s first commercially available computer, the Ferranti Mark 1.
Baby itself was originally only used for a few simple maths programs, but the draughts and chess puzzle programs run on the Ferranti Mark 1 machine were arguably the world’s first working computer games. The evolution of computer gaming can be explored in the museum’s ultimate interactive experience, Power Up, which showcases the very best video games from the past five decades and gives visitors the chance to get hands-on with over 150 consoles.
Now, technology that is millions of times faster than both Baby and the Ferranti Mark 1 is commonplace in homes and hands around the world. Nevertheless, it was Baby that paved the way to today’s digital age and gaming culture.
A full-scale replica of the original Baby, painstakingly constructed using historic components from the period, captivates and delights hundreds of thousands of visitors each year at the Science and Industry Museum in Manchester. The original no longer exists, having been taken apart for different elements to be used in later computers, so this is the closest people can get to an important piece of computing history, which took place right here in Manchester.
A dedicated group of talented museum volunteers operate and maintain this iconic piece of computing history and help to inspire new generations of scientists, engineers and innovators with the story of Baby. They also run demonstrations showing how this 17-foot-long early computer relates to the phones, tablets and consoles we’re familiar with today.
It can be argued that the World Wide Web, computer games, AI and electronic music have all been influenced by Baby—not bad for a machine with less processing power than a modern pocket calculator. The Science and Industry Museum is one of the only places on the globe where you can get up close to working computer history that has had that sort of impact in helping shape the world as we know it. It is available to see seven days a week in the museum’s Revolution Manchester Gallery.
Baby is a trailblazing machine that forever transformed the landscape of computing. 77 years to the day since it first made history, the Science and Industry Museum is wishing a big happy birthday to Baby!
