Algae-Powered Computer: The Forgotten 1950's Tech Marvel Revived!

https://www.ihadnoclue.com/article/1063082812110307329

In the early 1950s, an overlooked experiment in the history of computing took place at the Carnegie Institute. Biophysicist Harold Morowitz and electrical engineer Julian Bigelow developed the Algatron, a biocomputing device that used living organisms, specifically algae, for computational purposes. The Algatron was a photosynthetic computational array that used algae's electrical responses to light, creating a biological logic gate system. Despite its success in performing basic arithmetic operations and its remarkable efficiency in energy consumption, the advent of transistor-based computing made biological approaches seem impractical. Consequently, the Algatron was discontinued in 1955, becoming a footnote in computing history. However, Algatron's innovative approach was rediscovered in the 1990s with the emergence of modern biocomputing. As researchers grapple with increasing energy consumption in computing, Algatron's energy efficiency and self-sustaining nature provide valuable lessons. A team at MIT even recreated a working replica of the Algatron in 2018, demonstrating the viability of this unconventional computing approach. The Algatron's story serves as a reminder.