Gary A. Kildall, PhD (1942 – 1994), developed and then demonstrated the first working prototype of CP/M (Control Program for Microcomputers) in Pacific Grove in 1974.
I consider this set of 150 products announced on April 7, 1964, to be the most important introduced by an American company in the 20th century. And I am not alone in that view. How we used computers around the world was shaped directly by these machines and software, including your cell phone.
On March 3, 2014, Eric Schmidt and Jared Cohen (co-authors of The New Digital Age) engaged in a stimulating conversation with Facebook's COO Sheryl Sandberg. The event took place at the Computer History Museum (CHM) as part of the museum's Revolutionary series (see description below). This very interesting and wide ranging discussion, was mostly related to the promise and perils of the digital revolution, especially the Internet as it impacts the developing world.
When I first wrote programs in 1953, there was no software and few programmers. I entered programs in the computer’s binary language (octal notation) directly into the machine’s registers. And the machine was all mine: there was no operating system to allocate its resources among multiple programs or operate the input-output devices.
During January some of you might have noticed a running dialogue among historians and other interested parties about who invented the “first” computer. There was no agreement reached on the correct answer to that question. Discussions about “firsts” pop up about every five years, almost like short-lived brush fires on the side of the road as historians travel on to do their serious work. Over the past forty years I have seen articles and books, even one lawsuit on patents, over the question of “firsts.”
The United Kingdom has finally pardoned Alan Turing for a gay sex conviction which tarnished the brilliant career of the code breaker credited with helping win the war against Nazi Germany and laying the foundation for the computer age.
Computer visionary Doug Englebart was posthumously honored on December 9th at the Computer History Museum (CHM) in Mt View, CA. The date of this event was significant, because December 9 was the 45th Anniversary of the “Mother of All Demos.^” Doug's wife, daughter, and several people that worked with Doug or knew of his work made brief speeches to honor him.
The History of Science Society held its annual meeting two weeks ago (November 21st to November 24th) in Boston MA. The meeting celebrated among other things the centenary of the journal Isis, the organ around which the society was eventually formed. The meeting covered a broad range of topics in the history of science from all historical periods ancient to recent.
LEO, more formally known as Lyons Electronic Office, was the world's first business computer, having been developed by the British company J. Lyons & Co. Ltd. between 1947-1954. John Simmons was very much the genius behind this adventure into business process re-engineering. His papers are archived at the Modern Record Centre at Warwick University in Coventry, England. Many of these contain valuable information about the ideas behind the LEO development.
The event was in the form of an interview/conversation led by CHM CEO/moderator John Hollar. Mr. Rattner spent a lot of time discussing his early life at Hollywood High School and how he got involved in electronics and as a EE student at Cornell University. It was less about Intel's early history. However, here are a few quick takes on Intel from Mr. Rattner:
In November 1943, an electrical engineer working in the telecommunications department of Britain's General Post Office named Tommy Flowers designed and built the world’s first programmable computer. Named "Colossus," the thermionic tube-based programmable computer successfully broke the supposedly unbreakable Lorenz cipher used by Hitler and the German High Command during the Second World War.
This was a hugely succcessful panel session on Intel's transitions, twists and turns into the world's most successful semiconductor company of all time. Many attendees complemented our 2 panelists and myself for a great learning experience and intellectually stimulating session. The great stories told by Ted and Dave is what tech history should be all about, IMHO!
It was certainly a team effort, as evidenced by our planning session last week, Gwen Caldwell's superb job of making the r
A free session at the Flash Memory Summit- Aug 12-15, 2013 at Santa Clara Convention Center:
Fireside Chat with Ted Hoff: organized by IEEE COMSOC content manager Alan J Weissberger, the session will be on Thursday from 9:50am to 10:50am. Ted Hoff is co-inventor of the microprocessor and an early semiconductor memory design and applications engineer.
John Hollar, Computer History Museum (CHM) President and CEO, delivered a progress report on CHM activities at the January 7th IEEE Life Member meeting in Mt View, CA. The CHM has become the leading institution that's archived computer artifacts, but is now recognized as a thought leader on the impact of computing on our society.
Four CHM areas were cited by John as being particularly successful:
40 years of Ethernet history discussed during day one; day two featured "movers & shakers" talking about current and future market trends and technologies. .................................................... Metcalfe's closing keynote talk along with the Q & A session can be viewed at:
The World IP Day program was to promote and celebrate the many benefits of intellectual property in San Jose and the SF Bay Area. San Jose and Silicon Valley lead the nation in patent generation and the city co-hosted this West Coast event to celebrate the contributions of innovators and creators worldwide.
Somehow my career has repeatedly led me into doing unexpected and wonderful things.
One such piece of serendipity has been the role I landed at the Jerusalem Science Museum as the curator of an exhibition in honor of Alan Turing. This project took a year and half, and gave me the occasion to work with some amazing people at the museum, interact with many more from around the world, and learn so much about that tragic genius, Alan Turing, of which I wrote here before.
Being the curator of the Alan Turing Year exhibition at the Jerusalem Science Museum, I was invited to sit on a panel dedicated to Turing’s legacy at the ICON Science Fiction, Imagination and The Future festival in Tel Aviv. My talk there was well received, and touches on some interesting truths, so I decided to share its content here. I hope you enjoy it as much as I have!
In this informative March 11, 2013 lecture at the Computer History Museum (CHM), Grady Booch asked and tried to answer this question: "What does it take to make "sentient" devices (that can feel, sense, think and reason) out of silicon and software?"
I consider this set of 150 products announced on April 7, 1964, to be the most important introduced by an American company in the 20th century. And I am not alone in that view. How we used computers around the world was shaped directly by these machines and software, including your cell phone.
Ever get the urge to mess with Visicalc or WordStar again? Play the original Donkey Kong or Adventure on your computer? Now you can!
In November 1943, an electrical engineer working in the telecommunications department of Britain's General Post Office named Tommy Flowers designed and built the world’s first programmable computer. Named "Colossus," the thermionic tube-based programmable computer successfully broke the supposedly unbreakable Lorenz cipher used by Hitler and the German High Command during the Second World War.
Have you been longing for a working Apple 1 computer? Or maybe a reproduction of a Pascaline?
