Wednesday, June 17, 1998 Published at 07:44 GMT 08:44 UK
Baby is 50
Baby: hardly a laptop
It is the size of a minibus, weighs a ton and its job can now be done by a chip the size of a pin head.
Today there are computers which are 25 million times faster, but the start of the information age can be traced back to Baby's birth.
It was capable of only a few calculations and often did not work, but it was to become a model for the first commercially available computers built in the 1950s.
Brought back to life
To celebrate the anniversary Baby, which is kept at the Manchester Museum of Science and Industry, is being brought back to life.
Mr Kilburn, 76 will be joined by Lady Williams, the widow of his late colleague Freddie Williams.
The original program that ran on Baby will be re-run on Sunday morning exactly 50 years after it was first used.
'It's exceeded our wildest dreams'
When Baby was born few people appreciated the impact that computers would have on modern life.
Although today some people fear that we have become too reliant on computers, Mr Kilburn is proud of his creation's legacy.
"I am quite sure there will be some misuse of computers as there is with any tool, but that doesn't mean that we have to pack in the whole business of trying to improve the quality of life."
Baby's rebirth is part of Digital Summer 98, a festival being held to celebrate Manchester's role in the early development of modern computing.
The festival will include conferences, workshops and concerts marking the contribution of computing to everything from music to business.