Mar 17, 2021
Soviet Hydraulic Integrator, a water-powered computer from 1936
It consisted practically of glass tubes and water, but it was able to solve differential equations and simulate almost any physical and chemical processes. Programming was done by swapping tubes. Unfortunately, the war soon broke out and the research had to stop, but in 1949, after the war, mass production of simplified hydraulic integrators began. They were sold to Czechoslovakia, Poland, Bulgaria, China and for example were actively used in the designing of the Soviet ballistic missiles, the Baikal-Amur Railway. In fact, the design was so successful that it was used until the late 1980s.