Konrad Zuse at the Castle

From 1946 to 1949, Konrad Zuse completed his legendary calculating machine Z4 in Hopferau—the world’s first commercially used computer—thus marking the starting point of today’s digitalization.

Unlike Bill Gates or Steve Jobs, Konrad Zuse remains largely unknown to the general public. Yet he was as versatile as the applications of modern computers today. This creative genius worked as an advertising graphic designer and a civil engineer, and his passion was painting. However, his life’s work was the invention of the first functional programmable calculating machine—a computer—as well as the first high-level programming language, Plankalkül.

Schloss zu Hopferau feels deeply committed to preserving Konrad Zuse’s legacy. We are a member of the Zuse Society and keep Zuse’s heritage alive through a wide range of events and through the design of our conference facilities.

The Milkmaid’s Calculation

Zuse’s legendary development at Schloss zu Hopferau

The story of Zuse and his computer was compiled by journalist Christoph Bode, on behalf of the castle owner and BERA CEO Bernd Rath, in his factual novel The Milkmaid’s Calculation.

The book recounts an almost forgotten yet highly significant episode in Zuse’s life: his journey from Berlin to the Allgäu region and his stay at Schloss zu Hopferau from 1946 to 1949. During these years, he worked on his Z4, which he first put to use in a bet in 1947. He proved to dairyman Xaver Röck that his calculating machine could compute the price of milk faster and more accurately than Röck’s experienced specialists. With this episode—almost trivial by today’s standards—Zuse ushered in the birth of the digital age.