The research project’s starting point is a critical examination of Zuse’s own historical construction of his work and activities, which had a major influence on his image as “father of the computer”. The basis for the biographical re-adjustment is a critical analysis of the Zuse files, an assessment of blank spaces, a verification of the authenticity of notebooks, shorthand notes and typescripts as well as the scientifically proven re-evaluation of the dating of many writings. Based on the critical evaluation of the estate and numerous additional source documents, the monograph offers a detailed analysis of Zuse’s intellectual and political development, his role as engineer, inventor and entrepreneur in the “Third Reich” and in postwar Germany. Thereby, it provides new insights into his position in the scientific system and the military-industrial-scientific complex of the NS state and into his relations with the allied occupational powers 1945–50. Beyond that, the development of Zuse’s most important pioneering achievements is reconstructed within its socio-political context. All in all, the book will offer a reassessment of his biography that allows to re-evaluate his technical and scientific pioneering achievements in view of the research into early Anglo-American history of computers.

Ulf Hashagen: “‘Mirror-Image Twins’: German and Allied Computer Experts between Research Control, Confidentiality, Research Cooperation and Technology Transfer 1945-1950”, International Communities of Invention and Innovation IFIP Working Group 9.7 Conference, 25-29 May 2016

Wilhelm Füßl (Hrsg.): 100 Jahre Konrad Zuse – Einblicke in den Nachlass. München, Deutsches. Museum, 2010; ders.: Konrad Zuse und das Bauhaus, in: Kultur & Technik 44, 2020, H. 2, S. 56-59.