2024 Fellow Awards

Making History

CHM honored the exceptional achievements of the Museum’s 2024 Fellows on November 16, 2024 in a special ceremony and gala at the Museum.

Allan Alcorn, Nolan Bushnell, Steven Mayer, Elizabeth “Jake” Feinler, and Jensen Huang were honored for their outstanding merit and significant contributions to the advancement of computing and the evolution of the digital age. They join other extraordinary individuals in the CHM Hall of Fellows.

CHM President and CEO Dan'l Lewin speaks at the 2024 Fellow Awards.

CHM President and CEO Dan’l Lewin opened the evening by noting that the impact of technology on humanity is the essence of the Fellow Awards, and at the heart of the Museum’s vision of a human-centered digital world, where everyone is served by technology.

After remarks by headline sponsor Oracle’s Andy Mendelsohn, who noted the impacts of the Fellows’ work on Oracle over the years, emcee and CHM Trustee Erin Teague introduced the first three nominees.

Innovative Leisure

Atari’s Allan Alcorn, Nolan Bushnell, and Steven Mayer were honored for their pioneering role in the development of the video game and personal computing industries. They described their groundbreaking work in the early days at Atari, whose company motto was “Innovative leisure,” in a documentary video.

David Crane, cofounder of Activision, presented the award to the Atari team. A former programmer at Atari, he considers Allan Alcorn to be “the engineer's engineer” whose technical expertise pervaded the company for years. It was Steven Mayer who pushed to combine early microprocessors with a general-purpose display circuit and chip in the Atari 2600 so that every game no longer had to have its own dedicated chip. This allowed the machine to dominate the video game market for over 10 years.

From the time he met Nolan Bushnell in the ‘70s, Crane felt he embodied the idea that technology could and should be fun. Nolan’s business decision to fund a project came down to only one reason—that he found it “neat.” Fortunately, Crane notes, Nolan represented his target market and millions of others also found the ideas to be neat. Many projects were far ahead of their time and came about when the need and technologies converged, changing the world of technology-based entertainment forever.

The Atari team receives their Fellow Awards. From left: Steven Mayer, Nolan Bushnell, and Allan Alcorn.

Allan Alcorn thanked colleagues and mentors who pushed him to do things that he didn’t believe he could do. He noted that technology is a powerful tool and made a plea for ethical progress.

Following Alcorn, with his trademark humor, Nolan Bushnell described his lifelong passion for electronics and his work on gamified education today. He also offered plenty of advice, including to gain a variety of skills, be tenacious and resilient, and give back by thinking of something bigger than yourself and trying to fix problems in the world. “Optimism is the driver of the future,” said Nolan.

Steven Mayer compared Nolan to the leader of the band and Al as the drummer. His advice to people entering the gaming field: Find the music you want to play, master your instrument, find fellow band members you respect, find your audience, and be willing to work for tips.

Paper Lover

Elizabeth “Jake” Feinler was honored for inspiring and creative leadership of the Network Information Centers that helped shape today’s internet.

Steve Crocker, a key player in the creation of ARPANET protocols, presented the award to Jake. He said that Jake embodied three key attributes: the orientation and skill of an information scientist; zeal and energy; and, a deep set of humanitarian values. She mentored and included women and minorities in her group.

Elizabeth "Jake" Feinler holds her 2024 CHM Fellow Award.

In her remarks, Jake noted that she was a long-time CHM volunteer, and since her friends say she never saw a piece of paper she didn’t like, she was able to donate 400 boxes of internet archives to the Museum. Jake described her work at the NIC and how the growth of the internet eventually led to the domain system. Calling the internet today the Wild West, where you find misinformation, conspiracies, scams, pornography, spying on users, and AI fraud, she called for open, fair, reliable protocols and rules to make the internet work better for everyone.

History in the Making

Cofounder, President and CEO of NVIDIA Jensen Huang was honored for visionary leadership in the advancement of devices and systems for computer graphics, accelerated computing, and artificial intelligence.

Jensen’s mentor, Morris Chang, the founder and former chairman and CEO of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), sent video congratulations. He recounted how Jensen first reached out to him in 1997 to ask TSMC to manufacture their new GPU chip. The two continued their relationship and innovative partnership for decades. “You are a maker of computer history yourself,” he said to Jensen.

Mark Stevens, managing partner at S-Cubed Capital, and an early investor in NVIDIA and board member, presented the award to Jensen. He described the three phases of the company’s development from the 1990s to the present, moving from a focus on delivering high-quality 3D graphics to the Windows PC platform, through the launch of the first graphical processing unit (GPU), to powering the AI industrial revolution today. The processing power of NVIDIA’s GPU has far surpassed Moore’s Law. Stevens credited Jensen’s technical prowess and leadership in building a unique and enduring culture for the company’s success. Jensen, he said, is fearless.

Jensen Huang gives his acceptance speech for his Fellow Award.

In his acceptance speech, Jensen explained that when he and his cofounders started the company in the early 1990s, their vision was to reinvent the personal computer with capabilities that were then available only in supercomputers, including high-quality video graphics that could be used for things like gaming. He noted that the GPU they created is the first other processor in the computer besides the microprocessor that is programmable by software, and it was controversial when it was released. Today, for the first time in history, we can imagine accelerating solutions to the most daunting problems, like climate change, life-saving drugs and solving inflation. “The next ten years,” said Jensen, “we’re not going to want to miss.”

Dan’l Lewin closed out the program on a personal note, announcing his retirement after nearly seven years as president and CEO of CHM. The audience took a moment of silence to recognize the passing this year of Chester Gordon Bell, a key figure in the Museum’s early days.

Of course, the Fellow Awards could not have happened without the support of CHM's generous sponsors.

Headline Sponsor

Fellow Sponsors 
 

Table Sponsors

Andrea Cunningham and Rand Siegfried

Eileen Fagan

Gardner C. Hendrie

Stephen S. and Paula K. Smith

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