Technology
Core Memory
The dominant form of random-access memory from 1955 to 1975, utilizing tiny ferrite rings to store binary data via magnetic polarity.
Magnetic-core memory revolutionized early computing by providing non-volatile, high-speed storage that replaced unreliable vacuum tubes and slow delay lines. Developed primarily by Jay Forrester at MIT for the Whirlwind project, the technology relies on a grid of ferrite cores (donuts) threaded with wires: a write current flips the magnetic orientation to represent a 1 or 0. It powered critical systems like the IBM 704 and the Apollo Guidance Computer, where its physical ruggedness proved essential for spaceflight. While eventually superseded by silicon-based SRAM and DRAM in the 1970s, core memory remains the definitive precursor to modern RAM architecture.
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