The Computer Museum, Boston facts for kids
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| Established | 1979 |
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| Dissolved | 2000 |
| Location | Museum Wharf Boston, Massachusetts |
| Type | Computer museum |
The Computer Museum was a special place in Boston, Massachusetts. It opened in 1979 and taught people about computers for about 20 years. People sometimes called it TCM or the Boston Computer Museum. When the museum closed in 2000, many of its amazing computer collections went to the Computer History Museum in California.
Contents
History of The Computer Museum
How the Museum Started
The idea for a computer museum began in 1975 at a company called Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC). They had a small display of computer parts in a closet!
In 1979, with help from DEC, a couple named Gordon and Gwen Bell started the Digital Computer Museum. It was in Marlboro, Massachusetts. Even though DEC helped fund it, the museum wanted to collect and save computers from all over the world.
In 1982, the museum became a non-profit organization. This meant it was a charity. In 1983, it dropped "Digital" from its name and became simply "The Computer Museum." It decided to move to Museum Wharf in downtown Boston. It shared a big, old building with the Boston Children's Museum.
Oliver Strimpel joined the museum from the Science Museum in London. He helped create a big exhibit about computer graphics. Later, he became the museum's Executive Director in 1990.
On November 13, 1984, the museum officially opened its new, much larger home. It had 53,000 square feet of space! Some of the first exhibits showed famous old computers. These included the Whirlwind Computer, the SAGE computer room, and many computers built by Seymour Cray. There was also a timeline showing 20 years of computer history. A special area called "The Computer and the Image" showed how computers create pictures.
Even before the museum officially started, people like DEC's Ken Olsen and Mitre Corporation's Robert Everett helped save important old computers. For example, they saved the Whirlwind computer from being thrown away in 1973.
The Computer History Museum in California
As the computer industry grew, many new companies started in Silicon Valley on the West Coast. This made it harder for the Boston museum to collect new items and get support from companies.
So, in 1996, some of the museum's board members started a new part of the museum in Silicon Valley. It was first called The Computer Museum History Center. Its job was to collect and save computer history. In 2001, it changed its name to the Computer History Museum. It got its own building in Mountain View, California, in 2002.
In 1999, The Computer Museum in Boston joined with the Museum of Science, Boston. When The Computer Museum closed as its own place in 2000, some items went to the Museum of Science. But most of the historical computer collection went to the Computer History Museum in California. This collection became the main part of the California museum's items.
Today, many documents and videos about The Computer Museum's history are kept at The Computer History Museum. These include details about exhibits, lectures, and events like The Computer Bowl.
Amazing Computer Collections
The museum's collections started with items from Gordon and Gwen Bell. They had been collecting computers since the 1970s. To organize everything, they created a system to classify computer parts. They sorted items into categories like Processor, Memory, Switch, and Transducer (for input/output devices).
The museum actively collected items throughout its history. They collected everything from tiny computer chips to huge mainframe computers. Besides physical items, they also collected images, films, and videos.
Some of the very important early items they collected included parts of the Whirlwind 1, the UNIVAC 1, and the TX-0. They also had a CPU from the Burroughs ILLIAC IV, an IBM 7030 "Stretch", and a NASA Apollo Guidance Computer Prototype. Other famous computers like the CDC 6600, a CRAY-1, and the PDP-1 were also part of the collection.
By 1984, the museum had 900 cataloged items. They added an Apple 1, a Burroughs B-500, and an IBM SAGE. They also collected different types of computer memory, like core memory and mercury delay lines. Later, they added computers like the Osborne I and the Sinclair ZX-80. They even collected early software, like the first BASIC for the Altair and a test version of VisiCalc.
Between 1995 and 1996, the museum held a contest to find the earliest personal computers. This helped them add 137 new items to their collection. Judges like Steve Wozniak (who co-founded Apple) awarded prizes to people who brought in very early machines like the Kenbak-1 (from 1972) and the Altair 8800.
In 1986-1987, the museum collected 27 more computers, including a CDC 1604 and a Xerox Alto II. They also collected many robots for their "Smart Machines" exhibit. These included robots like the Direct Drive Arm I and the Pluto Rover.
Because computer technology changed so fast, the museum made an agreement with the Smithsonian Institution in 1987. They worked together to make sure important computer items would be saved. They even planned to create a shared catalog of their collections.
Cool Exhibits to Explore
The Computer and the Image (1984)
When the museum reopened in 1984, it had a large exhibit about digital image processing and computer graphics. It was called "The Computer and the Image." This exhibit showed the history of digital images and how computers create pictures. It had old items, explanations, interactive displays, and a computer animation theater.
Digital Image Processing This part showed the history and uses of digital image processing. One amazing item was possibly the first-ever digital image. It was from the Mariner 4 Mars probe in 1965. Scientists put together colored strips of paper from a printer to make this image of Mars.
Other displays showed early devices for creating and printing computer graphics. There were also examples of digital writing styles and a holographic animation about how the U.S. population changed.
Computer Graphics You could see early computer graphic tools and examples of digital fonts. There was also a display showing objects that were hard for programmers to make look real on a computer. One fun exhibit showed a giant pen-plotter drawing the Boston skyline outside the museum. You could also play the first computer game, SPACEWAR!, on a PDP-1 computer.
Realistic Image Synthesis This section showed how computers create realistic 3D images. A famous object used to test these techniques is the "Utah Teapot." In 1982, Martin Newell, who created the teapot model, gave his original ceramic teapot to the museum. The exhibit showed his real teapot next to a computer screen displaying a digital version of it. Visitors could change the lighting on the digital teapot using switches.
Computer Animation The museum had a theater that showed early computer-animated short films. Some of these were from Pixar, like the famous Luxo Jr.
Smart Machines (1987)
This permanent exhibit, opened in 1987, was all about the history and technology of artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics.
Knowledge-Based Systems Interactive exhibits let you explore "expert systems." These are computer programs that try to think like human experts. You could try a medical diagnosis system or haggle over strawberry prices with a simulated store-keeper. There was also a system that composed music and one that played tic-tac-toe.
Natural Language Understanding Visitors could sit at computers and talk to ELIZA. This was an early computer program that acted like a psychotherapist. Even though it was simple, people often felt like they were having a real conversation with it. You could also watch a scene from the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey and think about the computer HAL's ability to understand language.
Robot Sensing You could interact with four ways robots "sense" the world: vision, hearing, touch, and sonar. For vision, a system tried to recognize shapes you arranged. For hearing, there was a speech recognition system. For touch, you pressed a pad to see pressure on a screen. For sonar, a sensor measured your height by bouncing a signal off your head.
Robot Theater
Inside a theater, many historical robots were displayed. When a robot was featured in the video program, it would light up and sometimes move! Famous mobile robots like Shakey and the Stanford Cart were there. Robot arms like the Unimate I and the Direct Drive Arm-1 were also shown.
The Walk-Through Computer (1990, 1995)
Imagine walking inside a giant computer! This exhibit was a two-story-high model of a personal computer that you could walk through. It showed how all the parts work and talk to each other.
Before you went inside, you could roll a giant trackball to play a game called "World Traveller" on a huge screen. Big pictures by David Macaulay and interactive displays explained how all kinds of information—like text, pictures, music, and programs—are stored as 1s and 0s.
Inside the giant computer, you walked past a wall-sized graphics card and memory card. Then you reached the microprocessor, where a projected image showed tiny circuits working. Further on, you saw huge RAM modules plugged into the motherboard, with close-ups of memory circuits. You could even peer into a hard drive the size of a mini-van and see the read/write heads moving over spinning disks. This exhibit was very popular and brought many visitors to the museum.
People and Computers: Milestones of a Revolution (1991)
This exhibit used nine "milestones" to show the history of computing. It started with punched card machines from the 1930s and went all the way to the small computer chips found everywhere in the 1990s.
One milestone showed a piece of the 1951 Whirlwind I computer and explained how core memory worked. For "Machines for Big Business," you could see a UNIVAC I and an IBM System 360.
Another part showed how computer programming languages like COBOL allowed different computers to understand the same instructions. A 1970s scene showed a PDP-8 minicomputer controlling theater lights. The exhibit also showed how computers like the CRAY-1 were used for science, like predicting weather. Finally, a student using a Macintosh to make her school newspaper showed the beginning of personal computing.
Tools & Toys: The Amazing Personal Computer (1992)
This exhibit had about 40 computer stations where you could try out eight different ways to use computers. One area, "Making Pictures," had a Virtual Reality Chair and other interactive graphics stations. Other areas let you explore writing, making sounds, doing calculations, playing games, finding information, and sharing ideas.
The Networked Planet (1994)
With the Internet growing fast, this exhibit showed the history and uses of computer networks. You could see a live air traffic control display and real-time stock market transactions. There were also several Internet stations, which were rare in public places back then. These stations showed different websites to highlight the many uses of the Internet.
The Virtual FishTank (1998)
In this large virtual undersea world, visitors used interactive stations to design their own virtual fish. Then, they could release their fish into a giant projected fish tank! Once in the tank, the fish would behave based on the rules chosen during its design, leading to surprising results. This exhibit, created with the MIT Media Lab, showed how simple rules can lead to complex behaviors in systems like traffic or city populations.
Temporary and Traveling Exhibits
The museum also created special exhibits that sometimes traveled to other museums.
- BYTE Magazine Covers 1985 – Original artwork from the famous computer magazine.
- Colors of Chaos 1986 – Bright computer graphics of fractals.
- On One Hand...Pocket Calculators Then and Now 1987 – Showed how calculators evolved from the abacus to modern pocket calculators. This exhibit traveled to many museums.
- Terra Firma in Focus: The Art and Science of Digital Satellite Imagery 1988-89 – High-resolution images from the SPOT satellite.
- Computer Art in Context: SIGGRAPH '89 Art Show – An international show of art made with computers.
- The Computer in the Studio 1994 – Modern computer art.
- The Robotic Artist: AARON in Living Color 1994 – A program that used artificial intelligence to paint pictures by itself.
- Wizards and Their Wonders 1998 – Photos of famous computer inventors.
Computer Clubhouse
In 1993, The Computer Museum teamed up with the MIT Media Lab to start The Computer Clubhouse. This program gave children from inner-city communities access to computers. They learned how to use and program computers with help from adult mentors. Kids worked on projects like building robots and creating computer games.
With a big grant from Intel, a network of Computer Clubhouses grew across the country and then internationally. After the museum closed in 1999, the Clubhouse moved to the Museum of Science, Boston. The Museum of Science now runs The Computer Clubhouse Network.
The Computer Bowl
From 1988 to 1998, The Computer Museum held an annual event called The Computer Bowl. This was a fun way to raise money for the museum. It was a live, televised computer trivia contest. Teams of leaders from East Coast and West Coast tech companies and universities competed. Famous people like Bill Gates and Mitchell Kapor were sometimes on the teams.
Special Events
The museum also hosted many other special events, often related to fun computer activities. These included computer chess tournaments, World Micromouse Contests (where tiny robots raced), and Computer Animation Festivals. They even had the first Internet Auction and celebrated the 25th Anniversary of Computer Games.
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