CHM Blog
The CHM blog showcases ideas and insights from our vibrant community in Silicon Valley and around the world. We take you behind the scenes of our programming, collections, and exhibits. Connecting the past to the present and into the future, we decode technology for everyone.
From the Collection
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From the Collection
The Eudora™ Email Client Source Code
Tuesday, May 22, 2018
Electronic mail is one of “killer apps” of networked computing. The ability to quickly send and receive messages without having to be online at the same time created a new form of human communication. By now billions of people have used email.
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From the Collection
Museum’s Oral Histories Tell Story of Japanese Hard Disk Drive Industry
Thursday, May 17, 2018
The Computer History Museum (CHM) recently released six video-recorded oral histories of key engineers and scientists from Japan who made seminal contributions to the magnetic recording technologies used in hard disk drives.
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From the Collection, Software History Center
The Shocking Truth Behind Arnold Nordsieck’s Differential Analyzer
Thursday, January 18, 2018
In 1950, the physicist Arnold Nordsieck built himself this analog computer. Nordsieck, then at the University of Illinois, had earned his PhD at the University of California, Berkeley, under Robert Oppenheimer. To make his analog computer for calculating differential equations, the inventive and budget-conscious Nordsi
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Curatorial Insights, From the Collection
In the Holiday Spirit: Festive Music by Computer!
Thursday, December 21, 2017
Before computer gaming, music, and art became mainstay applications and tools for creation, engineers often created programs to demonstrate a machine’s capabilities in ways that were easy for the public follow. It took many years to get musicians into the idea of composing using a computer, and even longer to get gener
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From the Collection
Into the Archives: A Look Back with “Robotic Artist” Harold Cohen
Friday, October 20, 2017
Editor’s note: Curator Chris Garcia delved into the Museum’s institutional archive and uncovered a rare 1995 interview with computer art pioneer Harold Cohen, taken during The Computer Museum’s exhibition “The Robotic Artist: AARON in Living Color” (April 1−May 9, 1995). The selection below appeared in TCM’s annual rep
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From the Collection, Software History Center
Seymour Cray: The Man Who Brought Style to Supercomputers
Thursday, September 14, 2017
A supercomputer is simply a computer that can perform many more calculations per second than the typical computer of its era. The definition is in constant flux. Yesterday’s supercomputer packed the punch of today’s smartphone. From 1969 to 1975, Control Data Corp.’s CDC 7600 was considered the world’s fastest computer
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From the Collection, Software History Center
An Early Door to Cyberspace: The Community Memory Terminal
Wednesday, August 16, 2017
COMMUNITY MEMORY is the name we give to this experimental information service. It is an attempt to harness the power of the computer in the service of the community. We hope to do this by providing a sort of super bulletin board where people can post notices of all sorts and can find the notices posted by others rapidl
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From the Collection, Museum News
Hidden No More: CHM’s Archives Processing Project Wraps Up
Monday, August 14, 2017
It took two and a half years, two full-time archivists, and nine part-time volunteers, but the Computer History Museum is thrilled to announce the completion of its Archives Processing Project (CHM APP).
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From the Collection, Guest Blog
Before ENIGMA: Breaking the Hebern Rotor Machine
Tuesday, August 8, 2017
The Hebern Rotor Machine was a major innovative leap in cipher technology and was also the first time electrical circuitry was used in a cipher device. Despite its failure to gain market acceptance, it had far-reaching historical significance in World War II and beyond. Unfortunately, its enigmatic inventor, Edward Heb
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From the Collection
What the DEC?!? Records of Minicomputer Giant Digital Equipment Corporation Open for Research at CHM
Tuesday, June 13, 2017
After 14 months and over 5,000 man hours the Digital Equipment Corporation’s (DEC) corporate archive is open for research!