Steve: What are you reading?

Emma: Oh, it’s an old scientific journal. I found it in the attic.

Steve: It looks ancient.

Emma: And it is. But I like the way the scientific things are explained in it. They used quite a simple language to make complicated theories and hypotheses understandable to the public.

Steve: And the journal was published in the last century, wasn’t it?

Emma: Yes. Lots of discoveries have been made since that time. Look, this is an article on a solar eclipse. It’s a shame the photos are black-and-white.

Steve: And what’s this, in this picture?

Emma: It’s one of the first computers.

Steve: But it’s huge and it reminds me of something from an old power station! I can’t understand how it operates — there’s no keyboard, and no monitor either.

Emma: You’ll probably understand it if you read the article. It’s quite interesting and reveals some facts about the history of computing since 1939. You can borrow the journal if you like.

Steve: Thanks. I will. I want to show it to my brother-he has aways been curious about old journals of all kinds.