Computer History Museum facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Computer History Museum

The Computer History Museum's front entrance
Established	1996; 29 years ago (1996)
Location	Mountain View, California, US
Type	History and Technology Museum
Collection size	Over 1 million objects

The Computer History Museum (CHM) is a museum in Mountain View, California. It tells the amazing story of computers and how they changed our world. You can see old computers and learn about the people who created them. The museum shows how computers have shaped our lives.

Discovering Computer History

The idea for the museum started way back in 1968. People wanted to save important old computers. One of the first exhibits opened in 1975. It was in a small closet at a company called DEC!

Early Museum Homes

In 1978, the museum moved to a bigger space. It was called The Digital Computer Museum (TDCM) then. Famous computer experts gave talks there. These talks still happen today.

In 1982, the museum became The Computer Museum (TCM). It moved to Boston in 1984.

Moving to California

In 1996, a new part of the museum started in California. It was called the TCM History Center (TCMHC). NASA gave them an old building at Moffett Federal Airfield. Many old computer items were sent there.

In 1999, TCMHC became its own museum. The Boston museum closed and sent its last items to California. In 2000, the TCMHC changed its name to the Computer History Museum (CHM).

A New Home in Mountain View

The CHM opened its current building in Mountain View, California, in 2002. This building used to belong to a company called Silicon Graphics. The museum was updated and reopened in 2011. It had a big makeover that cost $19 million!

Amazing Collections and Exhibits

The Computer History Museum has the largest collection of computer items in the world. It has over 90,000 objects, photos, and films. You can see many rare and unique things here.

What You Can See

• A Cray-1 supercomputer, which was super fast for its time.
• An Apple I, one of the very first Apple computers.
• The 1969 Neiman Marcus Kitchen Computer.
• Early Google web servers.
• The Utah teapot, a famous 3D computer graphics model.

The museum also has thousands of documents and software.

Learning from History

The CHM has an "oral history program." This means they record video interviews with people who helped create computers. They have over 1,000 interviews! You can hear stories from people like Joanna Hoffman and Donald Knuth.

Main Exhibits

The museum's main exhibit is "Revolution: The First 2000 Years of Computing." It opened in 2011. This huge exhibit has 20 galleries. It shows the history of computing from the abacus to the Internet. You can also explore this exhibit online.

Steve Russell, who created the game Spacewar!, using the PDP-1 computer at the museum.

Another cool exhibit is "Make Software: Change the World!" It opened in 2017. This exhibit shows how software changes our lives. It's great for middle schoolers and older. You can even try coding in a special lab!

You can also see working old computers. These include a restored PDP-1 minicomputer and two IBM 1401 computers.

A working difference engine was on display until 2016. This machine was designed by Charles Babbage in the 1840s. It was built by the Science Museum of London.

Software Collection

The CHM also has a huge collection of software. This includes old computer programs. The museum works to save these programs.

In 2010, the museum started collecting the "source code" of important software. Source code is the original instructions that make a program work. You can even download some of it!

Some famous source codes they have include:

• Apple's MacPaint 1.3
• Adobe's Photoshop 1.0.1
• Microsoft's SCP MS-DOS 1.25
• The Apple Lisa source code

Past Fun Exhibits

A modern version of Charles Babbage's difference engine on display at the Computer History Museum.

In 1990, the "Walk-Through Computer" exhibit opened. It helped visitors learn how computers work. It had a giant monitor and a huge keyboard. There was even a 40-inch trackball! You could use it to control a program called World Traveler.

This exhibit was updated in 1995. It got new graphics and more interactive parts. You could even change the "pits" on a giant CD-ROM and see the changes on a screen.

In 2016, the museum had an exhibit about self-driving cars. It showed the history of machines that can drive themselves.

Honoring Computer Pioneers

The CHM has a special program called the "Fellow Awards." It honors people who made huge contributions to computing. These are men and women whose ideas changed the world!

The first person to receive this award was Rear Admiral Grace Hopper in 1987. As of 2023, there are 95 members in this special group. Anyone can suggest someone for this award.

See also

• Computer museums
• History of computing
• History of computer science
• Living Computers: Museum + Labs
• Vintage Computer Festival held annually at The Computer History Museum