http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/um/people/gbell/tcmwebpage/outoftheclosetv2.3.pdf
Gordon Bell
Vanguard, San Jose
22 February 2012

• Background: History of the museum
• On collecting artifacts and stories…
15 pioneers and pioneer computer
• Myth busting … “firsts” determined by litigation
• Tour: Alcoves, Docents, and Mona Lisa's

• Bell and Newell, 1971
• Taxonomy of computers
• PMS for Processor-Memory-Switch:
A “Linnaean” notation and structure for naming various information processing functions including computers

“On building a Museum, time is your friend. Just wait.” gbell
“Chance Favors the Prepared Mind” – Pasteur
1. Concept and seed: Collectors and Preservers (xxx -1975)
Founded on collecting: Smithsonian was inadequate. Science & Deutsches Museums.
Belief that we could build the world’s best Computer Museum.
2. Alpha: The Museum in a Closet Project, Digital (1975)
3. Beta: The Digital Computer Museum, Digital (1979-1984)
Maurice Wilkes Opening Lecture, followed by 15 Pioneers
4. Going Public I: The Computer Museum, Boston (1984-1999)
Bob Noyce pre-opening lecture; J. Prespert Eckert Opened
5. Acquisition and Spinout: Boston Museum of Science July 1999; and
The Computer Museum History Center, Moffett Field, CA (1995-
2000)… Plan a building.
Sell High! (pre-.com, get commitments for $55M)
6. Going Public II: The Computer History Museum,
Mountain View, CA (2000- present) 2002: get SGI building.
Buy Low! (Get 3 x the building at 1/3 rd the cost)
January 10, 2011 R|Evolution Timeline Opens

The Digital Computer Museum, Marlboro MA
6,000 sq. ft. of exhibits

The Digital Computer Museum
Five founding principles from 1983 Report
1. Historical preservation. “To that end, the P,M,S notation forms the basis of the taxonomy determining the extent of the kingdom of computing and providing guidelines for exhibits.”
2. A lecture series for the computing pioneers and contributors to record their stories. “Thus, we are giving the podium to people who can give first-hand biographies of machines, programs and languages they have known.”
3. “The focal point of the Museum is the machines themselves.”
Frank Oppenheimer stated: "Well-engineered machines speak eloquently …. Museum designers can't equal them"
4. A main “audience of computer scientists, programmers, history buffs, and those with a curiosity about computer evolution”
5. “Broad-based involvement by maintaining a working relationship between the enthusiastic volunteers, donors of artifacts, patrons, students, scholars and a staff that can keep stirring the soup”.

Web
Youtube
KQED/NPR
Education
outreach
The Computer
Museum Report,
Summer 1983

First 15 of the 45 Marlboro lectures
Italics denote artifact acquisition
VIDEO CAPTURE Was ESSENTIAL … We did too few… .
1.
Maurice Wilkes: The Design and Use of EDSAC , Sept. 24th, 1979
2.
George Stibitz The Development, Design and Use of the Bells Labs Relay
Calculators, May 8th, 1980 …
3.
Jay Forrester: The Design Environment and Innovations of Project Whirlwind
June 2nd, 1980
4.
John Vincent Atanasoff: The Forces the Led to the Design of ABC, the Atanasoff-Berry Electronic Computer November 11th, 1980
5.
Konrad Zuse : Designing and Developing the Z1-Z4 March 4th, 1981
6.
James Wilkinson: The Design and Use of the Pilot Ace April 14th, 1981
7.
John Brainerd: Development of the ENIAC Project June 25th, 1981
8.
David Edwards: The Evolution of the Early Manchester Machines Sept. 9th, 1981
9.
Tommy H. Flowers: Design and Use of Colossus October 15th, 1981
10. Arthur Burks: The Origin of the Stored Program February 18th, 1982
11. Harry Huskey: From Pilot Ace to G-15 November 18th, 1982
12. Grace Hopper, The Harvard Mark I. April 14th, 1983
13. Donald Davies: Early History of Cipher Machines April 24th, 1983
14. Robert V.D. Campbell on the Harvard Mark I-IV October 23rd, 1983
15. J. Presper Eckert: ENIAC’s 40th Birthday February 13th, 1986 (at Boston)

Data-operation components e.g. arithmetic units, logic circuitry, a valve from Manchester Mark I;
Data-operations aka calculators e.g. abaci, slide rules, printed tables, sectors and other Navigational instruments, the Lehmer Number Sieves, a
Hollerith system replica, a Napier’s Bones, a Pascaline replica, Hillis’s Tinker
Toy Computer;
Transducers e.g. telegraphy equipment, typewriters (subsequently discontinued), light pen, plotters;
Memories e.g. Atanasoff capacitor store drum, core memories, delay lines, drums, handbooks, player piano disk, tapes, Williams tube.
Computers e.g. Brigham Young U. Stretch. Bendix G-15, Burroughs ILLIAC IV,
CDC 160 and 6600, Data General Nova, DEC PDP-1,5,7, 8, 11 (3 models), 12,
Fairchild Symbol pioneered dual in-line IC, Honeywell ARPA IMP, IBM 1130,
1620, 7030 (Stretch), and 360/195 console, LGP-30, Lincoln Laboratory LINC and TX-0, MITS Altair, MIT Whirlwind, NASA Apollo Guidance Computer,
Philco 212, Raytheon Polaris Guidance Computer, RR Solid State 80,
Siemens 2002, Sperry Univac NTDS (Seymour Cray design),
TI Advanced Scientific Computer, Viatron System 21, and Xerox Alto.
Working: restored TX-0, PDP-1, and Marlboro’s VAX computer installation.

• 18 member board. Six from DEC including Olsen and Bell
• Charlie Bachman, inventor of the Integrated Data Store
• Harvey Cragon, designed TI Advanced Scientific Computer
• Bob Everett, CEO of MITRE Corp.
• Les Hogan, CEO, Fairchild
• John Lacey, CDC
• Pat McGovern, founder, ComputerWorld
• George Michael, Livermore Computer Scientist
• Bob Noyce, the inventor of the IC and Intel founder
• Brian Randell of the University of Newcastle
• Mike Spock, Founder and Director of the Boston Children’s
Museum
• Erwin Tomash of the Babbage Institute
• Massachusetts Senator Paul Tsongas

Annual Attendance: 135,000
Collection of over 500 of
“first and early PCs”
Pioneer lectures serie >
Industry breakfast series
Dozen major exhibits e.g.
Walk Through Computer
Computer Clubhouse w/MIT
It didn’t die

The Computer Museum
Boston, 13 Nov. 1984
12,000 sq. ft. Exhibit
Walk-through Computer
Robot Gallery, Timeline
Games, Networks,
Children’s Software
Virtual Fish tank

25,000 sq. ft. warehouse
Purchased for the purpose of storing the Museum’s Collection.
Located in Milpitas, CA

The “first” electronic digital computer…

Michael R. Williams
Served as curator at Computer History Museum
July 22, 2009 COMPSAC 2009 Seattle Professor Michael R. Williams 21

• Project xxxxx was the first mechanical, analog, automatic, nonprogrammable, fully operational, calculating machine available in
Northwest Washington.
• Use enough adjectives and you can usually be sure that whatever you create can be a “first”
July 22, 2009 COMPSAC 2009 Seattle Professor Michael R. Williams 22

• ENIAC (1944)
“First large scale, general purpose, digital, electronic, calculating machine”
•Military project
•17,000 vacuum tubes
•Built at the Moore School of
Electrical Engineering at the
University of Pennsylvania
July 22, 2009 COMPSAC 2009 Seattle Professor Michael R. Williams 29

• The ABC is known as
“ The First Electronic Digital Computer”
• Designation given in 1973 by a US judge in a patent lawsuit
(overturned ENIAC patent)
• Needs and views of patent lawyers are different from those of historians
July 22, 2009 COMPSAC 2009 Seattle Professor Michael R. Williams 30

July 22, 2009 COMPSAC 2009 Seattle Professor Michael R. Williams 35

owns
Rand Kardex ENIAC
1927
1952
1950
1966
IBM
1955
ENIAC patent filed 1957, issued 1964

Atanasoff - Berry
Computer
(1939-1942)
The ABC was the “disinvention” of the computer”
– Gordon Bell

The first Microprocessor
…make that the “first commercially available” i.e. sold as a component, microprocessor
• 1971 Intel establishes the market
• 1995 TI asserts its patents for the invention of the microprocessor, cross licensed to Intel
• Lee Boysel prepares to demo the Four Phase single processor chip c1969. TI folds.

“One demo trumps a thousand lawyers”--Bell
1. 1969 Four Phase Systems ships a byte sliced microprocessor!
Board member Bob Noyce acts to interest Intel in approach.
2. 1971 Intel 4004 establishes the market for component micros
3. 1995 TI asserts its patents for the invention of the microprocessor, cross licensed to Intel
4. Lee Boysel prepares to demo the Four Phase single processor c1969 running as a one chip micro at TI versus Everybody trial
5. TI folds Friday before the trial, at “demo threat”
Four Phase story and its “first” dis-invention http://www.computerhistory.org/revolution/digitallogic/12/282/2291 Lee Boysel story as told by Bell
6. Intel usually claims “the 4004 is the first commercially available microprocessor sold as a component”

Feigenbaum, Lenat
Federico Faggin
Negroponte, Hawley
Alan Kay
Chuck Thacker
Dubinsky, Culler
Kleinrock, Lucky
John Hollar, CEO
Babbage DE2 Working Exhibit
Tim Robinson
The Computer History Museum
R|Evolution Exhibit, 25,000 sq. ft.
10 January 2011
Ike Nassi
Dally, Smarr
Len Shustek, Chairman
Dave Patterson
Dave Reed
Peter Cochrane
Gordon
Bell

Industrial seminals (18)
• ENIAC, JOHNNIAC, UNIVAC
• LINC … first PC
• PDP-1 “Spacewar”, PDP-8
One of a kind (12)
• Napier’s Bones
• Jacquard Loom model
• Pascaline replica
• IBM System/360
• ARPA IMP
• Babbage DE2 Reconstruction
• Hollerith replica
• PC Collection: Apple 1..MAC,
IBM PC… another 500+
• Cray’s (RR, LC, 6600, Cray 1,2) • IBM RAMAC #1, 5 MB Disk
• Cal Tech Cosmic Cube Cluster • Sqee; SRI Shakey robot
• Google Search Engine •
•
• ABC Reconstruction
Core Memory #1
Four Phase “The 1 st micro”
• Xerox PARC Alto,…Ethernet
• IBM DeepBlue Chess

Alcove
By Time: Pre-Computing and
Pre-Computer Industry
A Calculators … (D’s)
Object “Mona Lisa” in the exhibit
E Early Computer Companies
By Information Processing (P,M,S)
Functions
Lots of early artifacts, especially
Babbage DE2 ; HP35 or Bowmar
C Analog Computers D’s no storage Norden Bombsight
B Punched Cards (M’s & Processing) Hollerith repro
D Birth of the Computer
(integrating M, D, and K to P)
ABC Reconstruction ; ENIAC , Johnniac
UNIVAC or Leo (the first)
H Memory and Storage (M-memory) Core, RAMAC , Relational Database
I Software Theater (K-control)
L Digital Logic (Processing,
Computers)
0 Computer Graphics, Music and Art
… these are also I/O (T and K)
1 st Monolithic IC; 1 st Micro; MOS memory
N Input and Output (T) Transducers SAGE and Light Pen, Mouse , WIMP
Teapot
S Networking and the Web
(N, S, L)
BBN IMP ; Ethernet; Internet; web & browser; search engine

By Computer Class (Size x function)
F Real Time Computers i.e. embedded
(The invisible computer – function:
K/Control)
R Mobile Computing
(These includes Links aka wireless)
P Computer Games…
J Supercomputers
Q Personal Computers
K Minicomputers
G Mainframe Computers
PDP-8; and Intel 4004 Every computer you never see! Pacemaker, clock, process control, automotive, etc.
Spacewar ; PONG; Odyessy
LINC; MAC; CTSS; UNIX; NT
8
360 or UNIVAC I
FORTRAN, Cray-1 (Goliath)
Cosmic Cube (“Killer Micros” are
David to undo Cray),
M Artificial intelligence (algorithms) and Robotics (things)
Unimate, Shaky, Squee ; a different kind of machine
T What's Next?

Jacquard Loom Model
&
Weaving of Inventor

Photo:
Doron Swade
Difference Engine No. 2

Hollerith Solves the Census problem
(Robeto Guatelli, Replica_

32 x 32 Core Plane from Whirlwind c1952

DIY computers: the WISC
University of Wisconsin-Madison
1951-1954
Gene Amdahl

st

1. Right people… 2-3. Gwen Bell and Len Shustek … with a little help
2. Hang in … just don’t let it die!!!
Worst case—an artifact or story is lost.
3. Wait for opportunities.
Luck favors prepared mind. Sell high, buy low.
4. Boards are $critical$. a. 3 G’s: Glory, Give-Back, and Greed; Or: Give, get, or get off. b. Support varies with the proximity to the object creation c. Best supporters are the creators-- founding creators, engineers, marketing, sales, etc. d. Venture Capitalists bankers, PR, Marcom, accounting, legal, etc. e. Researchers and academicians including historians f.
Major users g. Communities h. Museum goers.

References for The Computer Museum (TCM)
Paper from Brian Randell’s Festschrift: http://research.microsoft.com/enus/um/people/gbell/tcmwebpage/outoftheclosetv2.3.pdf
Web site for TCM: http://research.microsoft.com/enus/um/people/gbell/TCMwebpage/index.html
TCM Annual Report Compilation 1975-1988: http://research.microsoft.com/enus/um/people/gbell/TCMwebpage/reports/ReportCompilation.pdf
Some CyberMuseum Content from Gbell Collection: http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/um/people/gbell/CyberMuseumPubs.htm
• Computer Pioneers – Pioneer Computers (Part 1): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qundvme1Tik
• Computer Pioneers – Pioneer Computers (Part 2): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wsirYCAocZk
• Report of the 15 pioneer talks (from Atanasoff to Zuse) at the museum: http://research.microsoft.com/enus/um/people/gbell/CyberMuseum_contents/TCMR-
1983_Winter_A_Companion_to_the_Computer_Pioneer_Timeline.pdf
• Hollerith Patent: http://research.microsoft.com/enus/um/people/gbell/Hollerith%20patent%201889.pdf
• The Ethernet Announcement, Feb 1982. “the network becomes the system” http://research.microsoft.com/enus/um/people/gbell/Ethernet_Seminar_Announcement_NYC_820210a.PDF