CHM Blog

Behind the Scenes, Education

Adventures in CHM Interning, Part 2

Tuesday, September 6, 2016

The Computer History Museum inspires people from all over the world every day, and this summer, the Museum became a place where 18 high school students engaged with history, explored their passions, and discovered their strengths. This is part two of two of CHM’s High School Internship Program blog series, compiled and

Behind the Scenes, Education

Adventures in CHM Interning, Part 1

Tuesday, August 30, 2016

The Computer History Museum inspires people from all over the world every day, and this summer, the Museum became a place where 18 high school students engaged with history, explored their passions, and discovered their strengths. This is part one of two of CHM’s High School Internship Program blog series, compiled and

Curatorial Insights, Remarkable People

Harold Cohen and AARON—A 40-Year Collaboration

Tuesday, August 23, 2016

Harold Cohen was a pioneer in computer art, in algorithmic art, and in generative art; but as he told me one afternoon in 2010, he was first and foremost a painter. He was also an engineer whose work defined the first generation of computer-generated art. His system, AARON, is one of the longest-running, continually ma

Exponential Center, From the Collection

1 to 1 Billion: Eight Exponential Entrepreneurial Stories

Tuesday, August 16, 2016

Gordon Moore and Intel. Steve Jobs and Apple. Bill Gates and Microsoft. Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook. These entrepreneurs and the iconic companies they have built rank among the most transformational stories of our time. They illustrate that one idea can create a billion devices, generate a billion dollars, or touch a

Curatorial Insights, Internet History Program

Happy 25th Birthday to the Public Web!

Friday, August 5, 2016

This month marks 25 years since the Web’s public announcement in several online forums and the release of the WWW code library, libWWW. The library was a kind of “roll your own” tool kit that gave volunteer programmers the pieces they needed to write their own Web browsers and servers. Their efforts—over half a dozen

Remarkable People

In His Own Words: Gary Kildall

Tuesday, August 2, 2016

Gary Kildall was a pioneer of personal computer software. He wrote programming language tools, including assemblers (Intel 4004), interpreters (BASIC), and compilers (PL/M). He created a widely-used disk operating system (CP/M). He and his wife, Dorothy McEwen, started a successful company called Digital Research to de

Remarkable People

Remembering David Morgenthaler: Leadership Learned Under Fire

Wednesday, July 27, 2016

David T. Morgenthaler (August 5, 1919–June 17, 2016) was a towering figure in the first generation of global technology venture capitalists. From the time he entered the field at the age of 48, until his death on June 17, 2016, at the age of 96, Morgenthaler led $3 billion of investments in more than 300 companies.

Curatorial Insights

Pokémon is a Go: Augmented Reality Takes the World by Storm

Friday, July 15, 2016

When Karl Marx said history repeats itself, I don’t think he had Pokémon in mind.The latest entry in Nintendo’s 20-year Pokémon franchise, Pokémon Go hit the App Store on July 6 and instantly became the most popular mobile game in the world. It surpassed blockbuster titles like Slither.io, Clash Royale, and Candy Crush

Exponential Center

Is it better to be lucky than good in Silicon Valley?

Wednesday, July 13, 2016

How did the stars of Silicon Valley companies fare in the face of risk and reward? How do pioneering entrepreneurs develop their vision? What are the roles of hard work and luck? How do innovators navigate uncharted waters?

Curatorial Insights, Software History Center

The Neverending Quest for “Firsts”

Wednesday, June 29, 2016

Visitors to the Computer History Museum frequently want to know: what was the first computer?