Philly Tech Week Event
Compuseum Presents "The Big Three Computing Innovations"
Each year Compuseum explores a new theme on Philly Tech Week. The theme this year is:
THE BIG THREE EARLY COMPUTING INNOVATIONS from SOUTHEAST PA
- Looking Beyond the Famous Computer Successes
- Historical Significance of an Apparently Failed Project
- Were They Ahead of their Time?
- Rethinking Failure in Computer Heritage
Compuseum event for philly tech week
Virtual Event- Wednesday, May 8th, 5-7PM
Welcome to Compuseum's Philly Tech Week Event
This event is organized by Compuseum, and co-hosted by System Source Computer Museum, Hunt Valley, MD.
This is a Virtual Event - It is free; courtesy of Sponsor generosity.
5PM-7PM (eastern USA) "Go To Webinar" platform on Wednesday, May 8th, 2024
Two Hour Virtual Presentation. 8 VIP speakers, 15 minutes each.
The event will be recorded and later available here.
Join in for short period or for entire event. Feel free to bring libation of choice!
Time: May 8, 2024 05:00 - 7:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Join Webinar Virtual Presentation
https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/8197751327027412826
Attend Our Event
Co-Hosted by System Source Museum of Hunt Valley, MD; Mike Jones
Theme of Event...
THE BIG THREE (3) EARLY COMPUTING INNOVATIONS of SOUTHEASTERN PA
- Looking Beyond the Famous Computer Successes
- Historical Significance of an Apparently Failed Project
- Were They Ahead of their Time?
- Rethinking Failure in Computer Heritage
Introduction by Dr. Thomas Haigh, co-author of "A New History of Modern Computing" Purchase book here: https://a.co/d/esgXbCS
Did you know that Philly is the "Foundry of Modern Computing?" Join us for this exciting event, including a deep dive into the technologies that launched the "Computer Age" right here in the Delaware Valley. This event provides a unique opportunity to engage with the speakers in a Q&A following the presentation by experts in the field. Chat with the masons of the computer generation who laid down the original building blocks in the birthplace of electronic computing.
Three (3) Big Computer Technologies are Discussed
1) RCA Selectron of Lancaster PA
The Selectron was an early form of digital computer memory - 1943; The first step in "storage" 1943-49
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selectron_tube
https://www.rcaselectron.com/sysafcrc.html
Speakers-
Bob Roswell, CEO of System Source Computer Museum
Charles Osborne of https://RCAselectron.com/
Robert Gillespie consummate Tube Collector
2) Philco Transac - Philco of Philadelphia
Philco produced the world's fastest all-transistor computer the Transac S-2000, in 1958.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philco_computers
https://www.radiomuseum.org/dsp_hersteller_detail.cfm?Company_Id=741
http://www.bitsavers.org/pdf/philco/2000/
Speakers-
Paul Kyzivat (Philco computers- Transac, 212)
Bill Mensch- Philco and its computer, semiconductor and transistor past
Philco CXPQ at David Taylor Model Basin, US Navy https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/pdfs/AD0650605.pdf
3) ORDVAC to ILLIAC - For Aberdeen Proving Grounds, Maryland
The University of Illinois Tie with Aberdeen. Ordvac to Illiac Series
For the University of Illinois. All 4 are "one off" machines. 1964
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ILLIAC
Discussion of Illiac Suite for String Quartet- First score composed by a computer. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illiac_Suite
Built in Paoli, PA (Illiac IV)
https://s3data.computerhistory.org/brochures/burroughs.illiac-iv.1974.102624911.pdf
Speakers-
Daniel Atkins III, University of Michigan, Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science; Illiac I, II and III
John Day, Professor at Boston University, developer of early operating systems, experienced in Illiac IV, Arpanet and Internet
Gary Feierbach (Illiac IV) https://www.linkedin.com/in/feierbach/
Speakers Biographical Sketch
Charles Osborne -
Charles Osborne is an electrical engineer who received his degree from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, back in the seventies. From his first job as a design engineer at Tektronix, inc., he has always had a side interest in the history of computing and the electronic components that made it possible.
Paul Kyzivat -
Educated at MIT with a BS in Mathematics. Worked in software development roles for Ford Motor Company, Honeywell Information Systems, Digital Equipment Corporation, Rogue Wave Software, Cisco Systems, IETF (Internet Engineering Task Force) over a span of more than 55 years. These jobs focused on operating system development, software development tools, integration and control of manufacturing equipment, distributed object system (CORBA) products and standards, Internet telephony (SIP) standards. Systems used include Philco 212, Honeywell 6xxx systems with GCOS and Multics, DEC VMS and TOPS-20 systems, Windows, Unix.
Gary Feierbach -
Educated at U.C. Berkeley BA in Math and Physics and an MS in EE Software and hardware engineering. Worked for Information Management Inc., Autologic Inc., Minicomputer Technology, NASA Institute for Advanced Computation, Intergraph Corp., Sun Microsystems, Apple Computer. These positions covering 40 years included assignments in various engineering and corporate roles. Areas of interest included CPU design, system programming, large applications, hardware and software reliability, and currently AI.
Semi-retired.
John Day -
John Day has been involved in research and development of computer networks since 1970, when his group at the University of Illinois was 12th site on ARPANET (precursor to the Internet). Day was in industry for 20 years working for major companies such as Codex, Motorola and BBN. and a major contributor to the development of network management architecture. Mr. Day has published Patterns in Network Architecture: A Return to Fundamentals (Prentice Hall, 2008) as "the most important book on network protocols in general and the Internet in particular ever written." Today Mr. Day splits his time between teaching at Boston University and serving as the International Representative for INCITS T3 and editor of DIS 4396, the RINA standards and holds over a dozen patents.
Dr. Thomas Haigh -
Information Historian, with a background in history of technology, business history, and computer science. I've published and researched in many areas of the history of information technology, including corporate computer use, labor history of computing, history of software and the software industry, and the history of computer science. Newest release:
A New History of Modern Computing by Thomas Haigh and Paul Ceruzzi. MIT Press, 2021;
Shanghai Scientific & Technological Education Publishing House, 2022. According to Gerardo Con Diaz: "A New History of Modern Computing is an instant classic—essential to historians, curators, and interdisciplinary scholars in information and media studies.
References
For more information check out these References:
Philadelphia and the Birth of Modern Computing, by Ceruzzi
https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5215/pennlega.15.1.0026
Philco Transac
Purdue University e-Pubs
PHILCO: Some Recollections of the PHILCO TRANSAC S-2000
By Saul Rosen, 1991, Report Number: 91-051
https://docs.lib.purdue.edu/cstech/891
Philco CXPQ computer at David Taylor Model Basin, US Navy - 1959, Barbara Sherard, https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/pdfs/AD0650605.pdf
Support Our Mission
Your support helps us continue our important work of promoting the education about the history of computing and providing access to important objects in the arc of innovation. Donate today to support our mission of education and outreach.
Featured on philly tech week
RCA Selectron Memory Tube- Lancaster, PA
The Selectron was an early form of digital computer memory. Constructed in Lancaster, Pennsylvania and developed by the Radio Corporation of America (RCA). It was a vacuum tube that stored digital data as electrostatic charges using technology similar to the Williams tube storage device. A stepping stone in memory devices that then led to the magnetic-core memory which became almost universal.
Philco Transac - Lansdale, PA
Philco was one of the pioneers of transistorized computers. After the company developed the surface barrier transistor in Lansdale, Pennsylvania, which was much faster than previous point-contact types, it was awarded contracts for military and government computers. Commercialized derivatives of some of these designs became successful business and scientific computers. The TRANSAC (Transistor Automatic Computer) Model S-1000 was released as a scientific computer. The TRANSAC S-2000 mainframe computer system, marketed as the "fastest computer in the world, was first produced in 1958, and a family of compatible machines, with increasing performance, was released over the next several years.
Illiac Series - Paoli, PA (Illiac IV)
The ILLIAC (Illinois Automatic Computer) was a series of supercomputers built at a variety of locations, some at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. In all, five computers were built in this series between 1951 and 1974. The most inspirational was the Illiac IV constructed in Paoli, Pennsylvania having one of the first attempts at a massively parallel computer. Key to the design as conceived by Daniel Slotnick, the director of the project, was fairly high parallelism with up to 256 processors, used to allow the machine to work on large data sets in what would later be known as array processing.
Event Hosting Sponsor- System Source Museum, Hunt Valley, MD
The System Source Computer Museum displays technology from the inception of computing. Founders Bob Roswell and Maury Weinstein opened ComputerLand, a predecessor to System Source, in 1981. Rapid advances in technology in the early 1980’s made some ComputerLand inventory obsolete before it could be sold. Bob and Maury’s old ComputerLand store on Redwood Street had a bank vault in the basement, so they filled it with vintage technology. Today, the extensive collection is at the headquarters of System Source, an IT systems integrator in Hunt Valley, Maryland. Bob enjoys leading tour groups, building the museum’s collection and sharing stories of vintage computers with Museum visitors.
Location Map of Objects Presented on Philly Tech Week
Location Map of Objects Presented on World Computer Day 2024
Here's a little location map to keep you oriented.
RCA Selectron Memory tube, Lancaster, PA
Philco Transac, Lansdale, PA
Illiav IV, Paoli, PA
The System Source Computer Museum displays technology from the inception of computing in Hunt Valley, Maryland.