Fifty years ago, the first computer designed and built in Brazil was presented

Fifty years ago, a saga of Brazilian science had its conclusion: the presentation of the “Patinho Feio” (The Ugly Duckling), the first computer designed and built in Brazil.

The Brazilian Navy, in the interests of national sovereignty, sought to replace the English Ferranti FM-1600B computers used in its frigates, and commissioned the University of São Paulo to develop the project.

After three years of research and with around 60 engineers involved, The Ugly Duckling (which won the University of Campinas with its "White Swan") was presented in July 1972 in a ceremony attended by the governor, the bishop and the rector. from the University of São Paulo.

The 1 meter high computer weighted 100 kg. “Patinho Feio” had 450 chips of integrated circuits, 3 thousand logic blocks distributed in 45 printed circuit boards, 5 thousand interconnected pins, memory with ferrite cores and capacity for 4,096 8-bit words.

Since then, the national computer industry has gone through several phases. Today Brazil has its “National Strategy for Artificial Intelligence”, and is investing in eight A. I. centers in the country, with emphasis on the Agro 4.0 centers, Health 4.0 and Industry 4.0.

Brazil is also privileged for having more than 90% of the world's niobium reserves, which is a fundamental raw material in the construction of electronic components and semiconductors.

At the National Nuclear Energy Commission’s Nuclear Technology Development Center, the Brazilian government launched the Laboratory of Advanced Materials and Strategic Minerals, to develop knowledge and generate commercial applications for Brazilian tech companies.

Named GraNioTer, the Lab is under the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation. It works as a technological hub of advanced materials and strategic minerals, aiming for technological deepening of production chains based on graphene, niobium, rare-earth elements, and others.