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| {{Proposal
| | This page is out of date, for current page for the Milestone proposal, see [http://ieeemilestones.ethw.org/Milestone-Proposal:CRC102-A_activated_at_Politecnico_di_Milano_by_Luigi_Dadda the page on the IEEE Milestones Wiki] |
| |more than 25 years=Yes
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| |within fields of interest=Yes
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| |benefit to humanity=Yes
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| |regional importance=Yes
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| |ou is paying=Yes
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| |ou is arranging dedication=Yes
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| |section is taking responsibility for plaque=Yes
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| |a11=Yes
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| |a3=1954
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| |a1=Activation of the CRC102A computer at Politecnico di Milano by Luigi Dadda, 1954
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| |plaque citation=In September 1954, the CRC102A digital computer was activated and operated in this University, under the direction of prof. Luigi Dadda (Lodi, 29/04/1923– Milano, 26/10/2012), thus becoming the first operating digital computer in a university in continental Europe. (alt: "one of the first digital computers" if this cannot be determined)
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| |a2b=Italy
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| |IEEE units paying={{IEEE Organizational Unit Paying
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| |Unit=Italy Section
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| |Senior officer name=Dario Petri, Chair
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| |Senior officer email=petri@dit.unitn.it
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| }}
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| |IEEE units arranging={{IEEE Organizational Unit Arranging
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| |Unit=Italy Section
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| |Senior officer name=Dario Petri, Chair
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| |Senior officer email=petri@dit.unitn.it
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| }}{{IEEE Organizational Unit Arranging
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| |Unit=C16 Italy Chapter
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| |Senior officer name=Sabrina de Capitani di Vimercati
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| |Senior officer email=sabrina.decapitani@unimi.it
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| }}
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| |IEEE sections monitoring={{IEEE Section Monitoring
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| |Section=Italy
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| |Section chair name=Dario Petri
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| |Section chair email=petri@dit.unitn.it
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| }}
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| |Milestone proposers={{Milestone proposer
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| |Proposer name=Stefano Zanero
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| |Proposer email=s.zanero@computer.org
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| }}
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| |a2a=Politecnico di Milano
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| Dipartimento di Elettronica, Informazione e Bioingegneria
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| Via Ponzio 34/5
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| Milano, Italy
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| |a7=If possible, we will place the plaque both on the original location of the machine (which is now a teaching building), and a more visible one in the highly visible display room where the original machine is currently exhibited.
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| |a8=Yes, but they have been extensively remodeled over the years.
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| |mounting details=In the original building it might be placed in the entrance hall. The current display is located in the main entrance of the DEIB department, a highly visible location.
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| |a9=Both locations are publicly accessible during the opening hours of the campus (usually 8.30am-9pm daily except on Sundays and holidays).
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| |a10=Politecnico di Milano owns both buildings.
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| |a4=Luigi Dadda was one of the first researchers on modern computers in Italy. In 1953 Politecnico di Milano requested funding for a digital computer under the Marshall Plan (the request was made by its rector at the time, Prof. Cassinis). A grant of 120.000USD was received, and Dadda recommended the type of machine to be bought, and joined the design team at the Computer Research Corporation of San Diego to build it, since the machine, a Computer Research Company model CRC 102A, would not be maintained by the vendor after delivery to Italy.
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| The machine reached Politecnico di Milano in September 1954, where it was activated in the 2SUD back room, and became the first working digital computer in Italy, and Politecnico became the first university equipped with a digital computer in continental Europe.
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| In the following years, the research activity of Dadda focused on the use of the machine for scientific and industrial applications, and training researchers and students of the Politecnico in Computer Science, where he created and taught the first courses on the subject.
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| Notably, he studied how to enhance the ALUs of the machines, proposing solutions such as the Dadda multiplier, which significantly enhanced performance of those circuits (1963).
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| From this kernel, the Computing Center and afterwards the whole modern "Dipartimento di Elettronica, Informazione e Bioingegneria" were born.
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| |a6=The machine was shipped to Italy on an old Liberty merchant ship along with the precious machine, packed in cotton balls in order to protect its valves from dangerous vibrations.
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| Upon disembarkation in Genoa, the machine was declared with customs as an "electrical appliance", as the only computer machine in the taxonomy of goods used at the time was a "punchcard machine", but a punched card reader was not supplied with the computer, so it didn't fit the categorisation. An additional problem was that, at the time, Italy's taxation imposed the application of a small paper slip similar to a stamp (proving payment of duties) on each and every valve used in the machine. Since dismantling the machine to apply the slips was out of question, the customs allowed Dadda to pay the tax as a forfeit, and gave him a pack of slips to apply on the machine "as soon as possible". Those slips remained in a drawer in Dadda's desk.
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| |a5=The machine was the focal point of technical developments in computational methods for the booming Italian industry of post-war reconstruction, helping design products for Pirelli and Edison (including large dams and power stations).
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| Concurrently, the presence of the machine kickstarted a series of technical achievements (such as the invention of the Dadda multiplier) of worldwide significance.
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| |references=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luigi_Dadda
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| http://www.ieeeghn.org/wiki/index.php/Oral-History:Luigi_Daddahttp://icse08.upb.de/program/luigidadda.html
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| http://icse08.upb.de/program/luigidadda.html
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| http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=6545879
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| |supporting materials=http://progetti.metid.polimi.it/ti/sito_HTML/smil/dadda/app/Elab.jpg
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| http://progetti.metid.polimi.it/ti/sito_HTML/smil/timeline/img/poli/elab.jpg
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| |submitted=No
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| }}
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