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.
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Curatorial Insights
Fairchild Semiconductor: The 60th Anniversary of a Silicon Valley Legend
Tuesday, September 19, 2017
President Eisenhower’s Civil Rights Act, Dr. Seuss’ The Cat in the Hat, and the launch of Sputnik by the Soviet Union were respectively important social, cultural, and technical news stories of 1957. There is one event that year did not make headlines but over the next 60 years also profoundly impacted all three aspect
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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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Exponential Center
An Inspired Year: Preserving the Legacy and Advancing the Future of Entrepreneurship & Innovation
Thursday, September 7, 2017
Silicon Valley seemed to capture lightning in a bottle overnight. Home to the computing revolution that spawned a culture of risk taking and technological innovation, Silicon Valley is an ethos that extends to frontiers across the globe. From one to one billion, the Valley is founded upon the belief that one idea can c
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Exponential Center
Reflections on Summer by CHM’s Exponential Center Inaugural University Interns
Wednesday, September 6, 2017
Editor’s Note: Interspersed throughout this blog are quotes from Clara’s fellow Exponential Center interns, as they too reflect on their summer at the Computer History Museum (CHM).People often ask me why I chose to intern at a computer museum when I am not planning to major in computer science nor museum operations. G
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CHM Live
The MRI of the Future May Be Wearable & Telepathic
Friday, August 25, 2017
Before MRI, the inner workings of the human body were a mystery, glimpsed only through dissection or experimentation. Today, this technology doesn’t just allow doctors to better understand anatomy—it is also reducing costs, eliminating unnecessary procedures, and most importantly, saving lives.
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Curatorial Insights
Early Frontiers for Computer Creativity: TX-0 Writes a Western
Wednesday, August 23, 2017
In April 2016, filmmaker Oscar Sharp and NYU artificial intelligence researcher Ross Goodwin teamed up to create the short film Sunspring. Goodwin created an AI bot called Benjamin to write the script, and Sharp filmed it as a part of the SCI-FI-LONDON 48 Hour Film Challenge. It was impressive, but it wasn’t exactly so
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CHM Live
Decoding Cancer with The Cancer Genome Atlas’ Dr. Jean Claude Zenklusen
Tuesday, August 22, 2017
“Some people say, ‘Oh, I have the Monday morning problems’ or the ‘Sunday afternoon blues’ because you have to go to work, but I never have that. I really go to work fully aware of what we are doing and fully aware of the necessity of what we are doing,” said Dr. Jean Claude Zenklusen, director of The Cancer Genome Atl
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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