History of computing in Romania

The first efforts to build electronic computers in Romania began at the Institute of Atomic Physics (IFA), where the first computer in Romania of the 1st generation (with electronic tubes) was developed, during 1954 to 1957, under the leadership of Victor Toma (honorary member of the Romanian Academy), with the name CIFA-1, within the Electronics Section of IFA, under the scientific direction of academician Tudor Tănăsescu. The experimental model CIFA-1 was followed by several improved versions and related systems, including tube-based replicas and later transistorized computers such as CIFA-10X and CET-50X. With the development of CIFA-1 in 1957, Romania became one of the earliest countries to design and build an electronic digital computer, being widely regarded as the eight country in the world to achieve this milestone. The construction of CET-500, the first fully transistorized Romanian computer, represented another major milestone in Romanian computing. With its completion, Romania became the 11th country in the world to build a fully transistorized computer. Other first and second-generation electronic computers were made in Timişoara, under the name MECIPT (Electronic Computing Machine of the Timişoara Polytechnic Institute) – MECIPT-1 in 1961, MECIPT-2 in 1965 and MECIPT-3 in 1967–1974 (unfinished), being built by a team including Wilhelm Löwenfeld, Iosif Kaufmann, Vasile Baltac, Dan Farcaş, Gavril Gavrilescu and Ştefan Măruşter. This was followed in Cluj by the DACICC series (an acronym for Dispozitiv Automat de Calcul al Institutului de Calcul din Cluj, “Automatic Computing Device of the Institute of Computing in Cluj”): the DACICC-1, completed in 1963, and the DACICC-200, completed in 1968. The machines were developed under the direction of academician Tiberiu Popoviciu by engineers M. Bocu, Gh. Farkas, B. Azzolla, I. Juhasz, M. Rosmann, T. Mureșan, D. Beloiu, M. Mușteanu, and M. Pătru, together with mathematicians E. Muntean, L. Negrescu, T. Rus, S. Hannes, V. Costea, St.