Bill Phillips and the MONIAC hydraulic computer

Peter Manthos

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CodeX

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4 min read

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Dec 15, 2023

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Sometime in November 1949, at a London School of Economics seminar room, Bill Phillips, an Australian-born economics student nervously took the floor before an audience of economists. He proceeded to demonstrate the workings of one of the world’s first hydraulic computers, later named the MONIAC (Monetary National Income Analogue Computer) that simulated the workings of the British Economy. The machine consisted of transparent plastic tanks and tubes through which flowed pink-dyed water, illustrating the flow of money between the sectors of the economy. The audience, composed of fellow students and economists, many of whom had come to get a good laugh, was surprised to find the machine fully working — the first working model of an Economics-dedicated analog computer was functioning fully, and Phillips was an instant hero.