Second generation of computer (1956-1964 AD)

Second generation of computer (1956-1964 AD)

The second generation of electronic computers began with the development of the transistor (electronic switching devices). A transistor transfer signal across a register. The three Bell Lab scientist,John Burdeen, Walter Brattain, and William Schockley, working for Bell Labs invented the transistor in 1947 which won Nobel Prize in 1956.
Transistor were highly reliable compared to tubes. Transistors were far superior in performance on account of their miniature size smaller power consumption and heat production rate. The second generation computer used these semiconductor devices. Second generation computer had many advantage over their predecessors.

Features of the second  generation computers were;

• They were compact and hence occupied less space.
• Because of absence of heating, the power required to operate them was low.
• The operating speed was much higher than the first generation computers. It was in terms of microseconds.
• Transistor reduce the size of computers.
• It could perform scientific calculation such as solving differential equation.

The example of this generation computers are: IBM1620,Honeywell 400 series,LEO MarkIII, ibm7094 etc.