Back in the days when I first started computing, the programs and data were stored in "core memory". The photomicrograph above shows 70 bits (not words, not bytes, but bits!) of one of these core memories. The small dark objects are ferrite "donuts" that could be magnetized by running current through the wires laced through them, and then read as a "0" or "1". This image is from a 4K (4,000) byte memory from a Digital Equipment Corporation computer. Each byte consisted of 7 data bits and an eighth bit to check for errors. Thus the total memory was 32,000 bits! The core was about 2" by 4" by 6".
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