Born into a mid-west farming community, a doctorate in physics from MIT, co-founder of two of the world’s most influential semiconductor companies, inventor of the modern computer chip and high-tech millionaire, in the later years of the 20th century Robert N. Noyce was the personification of the Silicon Valley success
Two months ago, we celebrated the completion of a three-year project to restore the world’s oldest original digital computer back to full working order and to re-assert its place as a Guinness World Record where it was first acknowledged as the world’s most durable computer in 1973. To our surprise and delight, our new
With his clipped red hair, freckled ruddy skin, and open yet no-nonsense manner, Nick Hughes could play a British army officer in the movies. But this quietly effective former geologist is the architect of the world’s leading mobile payment system, one that has changed daily life in Kenya and offers a possible glimpse
Oral histories have the capability of breathing life into inanimate objects. They can bridge gaps by providing introductions to otherwise unknown people, remote places, or obscure things. Most importantly, oral histories have the ability to merge and connect the past with the present, creating a lasting legacy for futu
If you were a senior executive in the Semiconductor Industry in the 1970s, 80s, and into the 1990s, you attended the annual Dataquest Industry Conference. Dataquest conferences, newsletters, industry reports and market data were the most widely attended, most thoroughly read, and the most frequently quoted of all the i
Curatorial Insight
The writer and futurist Arthur C. Clarke said, “The Information Age offers much to mankind... But it is vital to remember that information — in the sense of raw data — is not knowledge, that knowledge is not wisdom, and that wisdom is not foresight. But information is the first essential step to all of these.”
Warfare has been a rich source of technological innovation as long as humans have roamed the Earth. It isn’t much of a surprise then that from early electronic analog and digital computers, to integrated circuits, and programming languages, electronics and computing have been developed in concert with military needs.
Sometimes, we can look back at fictional items from the days before the computer and see threads to machines that would exist decades, or even centuries later. When the museum opened Revolution: The First 2000 Years of Computing, a visitor pointed out that we didn’t mention what they considered to be the earliest descr
November 15th marks Guinness World Records Day, a day when Guinness challenges the world at large to break as many records as possible within a 24-hour period. In honor of Guinness’s Day, here are 10 amazing Guinness World Records related to computer history.