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February 6, 2013 Jeffery Stein

It's hard to imagine not being able to work at IBM if you're a woman who happens to be married, but  Gizmodo has published a memo from January 10, 1951  that discusses a "temporary modification" of IBM's personnel policy—yes, it finally allowed female employees to continue working once they were married. It says: 

Effective immediately and until further notice:

January 16, 2013 Alan Weissberger

Abstract

The microprocessor changed what is now known as Silicon Valley from a mostly agricultural and defense electronics region into a center of innovation for many new technologies. How did that happen and what challenges were faced along the way?

January 14, 2013 Alan Weissberger

John Hollar, Computer History Museum (CHM) President and CEO, delivered a progress report on CHM activities at the January 7th IEEE Life Member meeting in Mt View, CA.  The CHM has become the leading institution that's archived computer artifacts, but is now recognized as a thought leader on the impact of computing on our society.

Four CHM areas were cited by John as being particularly successful:

December 31, 2012 Allan Olley

As 2012 closes, so does the Turing Centenary Year. The hundredth anniversary of Alan Turing's birth prompted many events, conferences and talks dedicated to Turing. A large list of such events was compiled by the Turing Centenary website.

November 21, 2012 Alan Weissberger

On November 1, 2012, a panel of Sun Micro luminaries discussed how the company "bet the ranch" on the SPARC microprocessor at an early and critical stage of the company's development.   The panel was expertly moderated by my Northeastern University MSEE classmate Dave House. CHM CEO/Prez John Hollar did a great job introducing and closing the program.  

November 21, 2012 Alan Weissberger

After a three-year restoration project at The National Museum of Computing, the Harwell Dekatron (aka WITCH) computer was rebooted on 20 November 2012 to become the world's oldest original working digital computer. Now in its seventh decade and in its fifth home, the computer with its flashing lights and clattering printers and readers provides an awe-inspiring display for visiting school groups and the general public keen to learn about our rich computer heritage.

October 28, 2012 Alan Weissberger

Several very provocative doomsday scenarios were discussed, but then refuted by subject matter experts called up to the stage to engage in conversation with the program hosts.  For each scenario top scientists were called on stage to discuss and refute several spectacular predictions about the end of the world as well as scientific theories about how it might end. This was a live taping of a "to be edited" future radio show.

The doomsday scenarios included: Mayan calendar ending 12/21/12, asteroids, global warming/ climate change, world-wide pandemics, etc...

October 21, 2012 Alan Weissberger

On October 16th, Rick Rashid, Microsoft Research's first employee and now its Chief Research Officer, engaged in a spirited conversation with NY Times science & technology journalist John Markoff at the Computer History (CHM) museum in Mt View, CA.  The discussion was part of the museum’s “Revolutionaries” series, which is not to be confused with the "Revolutions exhibit."  The  former is a luminary lecture series sponsored by Intel.  The latter is the museum's marquee exhibit, which cost millions of dollars to develop and several years to put together.  

October 9, 2012 Alan Weissberger

1.  The venerable Computer History Museum (CHM) in Mt View, CA recently launched a multimedia blog, with contributors from their seasoned staff of curators and subject matter experts.  

CHM Prez John Hollar told me,  "This has been one of the most important initiatives CHM has taken in the area of digital content and distribution.  It is and will continue to be a window into the museum's work by publishing different types of content on a variety of interesting topics."