{{Short description|Logic circuit element}} [[File:Fujitsu FACOM 201 Parametron Computer - Ridai Museum of Modern Science, Tokyo - DSC07668.JPG|thumb|300px|A ''Fujitsu FACOM 201'' parametron computer in the Science Museum of the Tokyo University of Science]]
The '''parametron''' is a logic circuit element invented by Eiichi Goto in 1954.<ref name=parametron01>Information Processing Society of Japan - [http://museum.ipsj.or.jp/en/computer/dawn/0007.html Parametron]</ref><ref name="Goto1959">{{cite journal |last=Goto |first=Eiichi |title=The Parametron, a Digital Computing Element Which Utilizes Parametric Oscillation |journal=Proceedings of the IRE |date=August 1959 |volume=47 |issue=8 |pages=1304–1316 |doi=10.1109/JRPROC.1959.287195}}</ref> The parametron is essentially a resonant circuit with a nonlinear reactive element which oscillates at half the driving frequency.<ref name="Goto1959" /><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.thocp.net/hardware/parametron.htm|title=Parametron|publisher=The history of computing project 17 March 2010|access-date=15 February 2011}}</ref> The oscillation can be made to represent a binary digit by the choice between two stationary phases π radians (180 degrees) apart.<ref name="Goto1959" /><ref name=para-uspto>U.S. Patent and Trademark Office - [http://www.uspto.gov/web/patents/classification/shadowFiles/defs307sf.htm?307_402&D&2N&2O Class 307, Electrical Transmission or Interconnection Systems - Subclass 402, Parametrons]</ref>
Parametrons were used in early Japanese computers from 1954 through the early 1960s. A prototype parametron-based computer, the PC-1, was built at the University of Tokyo in 1958 and later recognized as part of the IEEE Milestone for the parametron.<ref>{{cite web |title=Milestones: Parametron, 1954 |url=https://ethw.org/Milestones%3AParametron%2C_1954 |website=Engineering and Technology History Wiki |publisher=IEEE |access-date=19 April 2026}}</ref> Parametrons were used in early Japanese computers due to being reliable and inexpensive but were ultimately surpassed by transistors due to differences in speed.<ref name=mitbook01>{{Cite book | last = Rojas | first = Rául |author2=Hashagen, Ulf | title = The First Computers: History and Architectures | publisher = MIT Press | year = 2002 | location = Cambridge, Massachusetts | pages = 429 | isbn = 0-262-68137-4}}</ref>
==See also== * {{annotated link|Quantum flux parametron}} * {{annotated link|Eiichi Goto}} * {{annotated link|MUSASINO-1}} * {{annotated link|Magnetic amplifier}} * {{annotated link|Magnetic logic}} * {{annotated link|Parametric oscillator}}
==References== {{reflist}}
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Category:Digital electronics Category:Magnetic devices Category:Magnetic logic computers
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