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The Computer History Museum (CHM) is a computer museum in Mountain View, California. The museum presents stories and artifacts of Silicon Valley and the Information Age, and explores the computing revolution and its impact on society.

Key Information

History

[edit]

The museum's origins date to 1968 when Gordon Bell began a quest for a historical collection and, at that same time, others were looking to preserve the Whirlwind computer. The resulting Museum Project had its first exhibit in 1975, located in a converted coat closet in a DEC lobby. In 1978, the museum, now The Digital Computer Museum (TDCM), moved to a larger DEC lobby in Marlborough, Massachusetts and opened to the public in September 1979.[1] Maurice Wilkes presented the first lecture at TDCM in 1979 – the presentation of such lectures has continued to the present time.

TDCM incorporated as The Computer Museum (TCM) in 1982. In 1984, TCM moved to Boston, locating on Museum Wharf.

In 1996/1997, the TCM History Center (TCMHC) was established; a site at Moffett Field was provided by NASA (an old building that was previously the Naval Base furniture store) and a large number of artifacts were shipped there from TCM.

In 1999, TCMHC incorporated and TCM ceased operation, shipping its remaining artifacts to TCMHC in 2000. The name TCM had been retained by the Boston Museum of Science, so the name TCMHC was changed to Computer History Museum (CHM) in 2000.

In 2002, CHM opened its new building, previously occupied by Silicon Graphics, at 1401 N. Shoreline Blvd in Mountain View, California, to the public.[1]

In 2009, CHM hosted the National Inventors Hall of Fame's annual induction ceremony, the venue significant as that year's fifteen inductees were all contributors to semiconductor technology and 2009 marked the golden jubilee of the integrated circuit.[2]

The facility was later heavily renovated and underwent a two-year $19 million makeover before reopening in January 2011.[3] John Hollar, a former media executive, was appointed CEO in July 2008.[4] Dan'l Lewin, a former technology executive, replaced Hollar as CEO in March 2018.[5] CHM appointed former NASA Communications Leader Marc Etkind as its next President and Chief Executive Officer on February 19th, 2025.[6]

Public programs

[edit]
Museum sign as seen from Shoreline Boulevard

The Computer History Museum hosts regular public programs (currently under the "CHM Live" banner) with notable leaders (past and present) from Silicon Valley and the global tech sector, including past speakers such as Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, Reid Hoffman, Elon Musk, and Eric Schmidt, as well as academics, historians, and others on the impact of technology. The Museum also produces special events marking key anniversaries, such as the 40th Anniversary of the Apple Macintosh and the 50th Anniversary of Ethernet, featuring panels reflecting on the history and impact of key computing technologies. Recordings of the Museum's past events are viewable on its YouTube channel.

The Museum also hosts TechFest events for families.

Collections and exhibition space

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The Computer History Museum claims to house the largest and most significant collection of computing artifacts in the world.[a] This includes many rare or one-of-a-kind objects such as a Cray-1 supercomputer as well as a Cray-2, Cray-3, the Utah teapot, the 1969 Neiman Marcus Kitchen Computer, an Apple I, and an example of the first generation of Google's racks of custom-designed web servers.[8] The collection comprises nearly 90,000 objects, photographs and films, as well as 4,000 ft (1,200 m) of cataloged documentation and several hundred gigabytes of software.

The CHM oral history program conducts video interviews around the history of computing, this includes computer systems, networking, data-processing, memory, and data-storage. There are over 1,000 interviews recorded as of 2021, including panel discussions on the origins of the IBM PC and the hard disk drive, and individual interviews with Joanna Hoffman, Steve Chen, Dame Stephanie Shirley, and Donald Knuth.[9]

The museum's 25,000 sq ft (2,300 m2) exhibit "Revolution: The First 2000 Years of Computing", opened to the public on January 13, 2011. It covers the history of computing in 20 galleries, from the abacus to the Internet. The entire exhibition is also available online.[10][11][12]

Steve Russell, creator of Spacewar!, operating the PDP-1 at the Computer History Museum

On January 28, 2017, the Museum launched a 6,000 sq ft (560 m2) exhibit "Make Software: Change the World!" The exhibit covers how people's lives are transformed by software. Designed for middle schoolers and up, it features multimedia and touchscreen interactives, including a software lab where visitors can explore coding hands-on.[13]

Other exhibits include a restoration of an historic PDP-1 minicomputer, two restored IBM 1401 computers, and a restored IBM Ramac 350 disk drive.[14]

An operating difference engine designed by Charles Babbage in the 1840s and constructed by the Science Museum of London was on display until January 31, 2016. It had been on loan since 2008 from its owner, Nathan Myhrvold, a former Microsoft executive.[15]

Software

[edit]

The CHM is also home to an extensive collection of software, curated by Al Kossow, a former employee of Apple Computer whom the museum hired in 2006. Kossow is responsible for preservation and accession of software in the museum, as well as for developing CHM's software-themed exhibitions. Kossow was a contributor to the museum long before being hired full-time and is the proprietor of Bitsavers, a large online repository of historical computer manuals and archived software and firmware acquired from his own collection and through donations from his peers.[16][17][18]

In 2010 the museum began with the collection of source code of important software, beginning with Apple's MacPaint 1.3, written in a combination of assembly language and Pascal and available as download for the public.[19][20]

Many other accessions have followed over the years. APL programming language was received in 2012.[21] Adobe donated the Photoshop 1.0.1 source code in 2013,[22][23] and Postscript in 2022.[24] Microsoft followed with the source code donation of SCP MS-DOS 1.25 and a mixture of Altos MS-DOS 2.11 and TeleVideo PC DOS 2.11 as well as Word for Windows 1.1a under their own license.[25][26] On October 21, 2014, Xerox Alto's source code was released.[27] On January 19, 2023, the Apple Lisa source code was released to the public.[28]

Past exhibits

[edit]
A modern recreation of Charles Babbage's difference engine on display at the Computer History Museum

On June 23, 1990, the Walk-Through Computer exhibit opened to help visitors learn how computers work.[29] The interactive exhibit included a desktop computer, a giant monitor, a 25-foot (7.6 m) keyboard, and a 40-inch (1,016 mm) diameter trackball (initially planned to be a "bumper-car sized mouse") used by visitors to control the World Traveler program. In the Software Theater, animation and hardware video is used alongside a video feed of the World Traveler Program to show how computer programs work.[30] This exhibit was closed on August 5, 1995, and re-opened as the Walk-Through Computer 2000 on October 21, 1995, to include an updated monitor, 3D graphics, and more interactive features. One of these features allowed visitors to change the pits imprinted on a giant CD-ROM, and the changes are seen on a monitor.[31]

In 2016, the museum had a Liquid Galaxy in the "Going Places: A History of Silicon Valley" exhibit. The exhibit had 20 preselected locations that visitors can fly to on the Liquid Galaxy.[32] An exhibit on the history of autonomous vehicles, from torpedoes to self-driving cars was also on display.

Fellows

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The CHM Fellow Awards Program honors distinguished technology pioneers for their outstanding merits and significant contributions to the advancement of computing and the evolution of the digital age. The CHM Fellows are men and women 'whose ideas have changed the world [and] affected nearly every human alive today'. The first fellow was Rear Admiral Grace Hopper in 1987. The fellows program has grown to 100 members as of 2024.[33] Fellow nominations are open to the public and are accepted year round.[34]

See also

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Notes

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References

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Further reading

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[edit]
Revisions and contributorsEdit on WikipediaRead on Wikipedia

Computer History Museum

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The Computer History Museum (CHM) is a nonprofit history and technology museum in Mountain View, California, United States, at coordinates 37°24′52″N 122°04′37″W (37.414371°N 122.076817°W), dedicated to preserving and interpreting the history and impact of computing on society.[1] It houses the world's largest collection of computing artifacts and related materials, exceeding one million items including hardware, software, documents, photographs, videos, and over 1,300 oral histories from pioneers in the field, including individual interviews with figures such as Joanna Hoffman, Steve Chen, Dame Stephanie Shirley, and Donald Knuth, as well as panel discussions on topics such as the origins of the IBM PC and the hard disk drive.[2][3] Founded in 1979 as the Digital Computer Museum at Digital Equipment Corporation's facility in Marlborough, Massachusetts, it evolved through relocations and name changes, becoming an independent entity in 1999 and adopting its current name in 2000 before settling in Silicon Valley in 2002.[4] CHM's mission is to "decode technology—its computing past, digital present, and future impact on humanity" by making these stories accessible through exhibits, events, and educational programs for audiences of all ages.[1] Its flagship permanent exhibition, Revolution: The First 2000 Years of Computing, is a 25,000-square-foot (2,300 m²) exhibit spanning 20 galleries and showcasing over 1,100 historic objects, tracing innovations from the abacus to the Internet and modern artificial intelligence. The entire exhibit is available to view online. It opened to the public on January 13, 2011.[5] These exhibits feature interactive demonstrations and a wide array of artifacts, covering topics such as neural networks and the evolution of artificial intelligence from early concepts to modern developments.[6][7] Notable artifacts include a working replica of Charles Babbage's Difference Engine No. 2, components from the ENIAC (the first general-purpose electronic computer), the original Google server rack, and early video game consoles like Atari's Pong machine.[4] The museum also maintains specialized collections on topics such as the web, AI, and software history, with ongoing digitization efforts culminating in the beta launch of the OpenCHM digital portal in August 2025 and full launch planned later in the year for public access.[3][8] Since reopening in January 2011 after a two-year, $19 million renovation, CHM has hosted influential programs like the annual Fellow Awards, honoring computing luminaries such as Grace Hopper (1987, first recipient) and, in 2024, Jensen Huang and Nolan Bushnell.[4][3] It draws over 90,000 visitors annually to its 120,000-square-foot facility with approximately 60 dedicated team members, supplemented by online resources and events featuring figures like Bill Gates, while emphasizing computing's global and ethical dimensions in recent exhibits like Chatbots Decoded: Exploring AI (opened November 2024).[3][9][10] As a 501(c)(3) organization led by President and CEO Marc Etkind since April 2025, CHM continues to expand its role as a vital archive and storyteller of the information age.[1][3]

History

Founding and Early Development

The origins of the Computer History Museum date to 1968, when Gordon Bell began a quest to assemble a historical collection of computing artifacts, concurrent with efforts to preserve the Whirlwind computer. These preservation initiatives evolved into the Museum Project, which held its first exhibit in 1975 in a converted coat closet in a Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) lobby. In 1978, the project was renamed The Digital Computer Museum (TDCM) and relocated to a larger lobby in Marlborough, Massachusetts.[11][12] The Digital Computer Museum was formally established in 1979 by DEC CEO Ken Olsen, along with Gordon Bell and his wife Gwen Bell, at DEC's facility in Marlborough, Massachusetts. It officially opened to the public on September 23, 1979, with an inaugural lecture by British computer pioneer Maurice Wilkes on the EDSAC. The presentation of such lectures has continued to the present time.[11][13] From its inception, the museum's mission centered on documenting the evolution of computing through tangible artifacts, emphasizing education and public access to technology's impact. Early exhibits highlighted pioneering machines such as the PDP-1 minicomputer and components from the UNIVAC I, the first commercial computer, showcasing the shift from massive mainframes to more accessible systems. DEC provided substantial support, including facilities, funding, and expertise, enabling the museum to grow its collection rapidly while remaining closely tied to the company's innovation culture.[14][15] In 1982, The Digital Computer Museum incorporated as The Computer Museum (TCM). In 1984, the institution relocated to a dedicated space on Boston's Museum Wharf and was renamed The Computer Museum, marking its transition to an independent nonprofit entity open to broader audiences. The new venue featured interactive displays and expanded holdings, with the cataloged collection reaching approximately 900 artifacts and films by mid-1984, including acquisitions like early calculators and electromechanical devices. Gwen Bell served as the founding director, guiding the museum's focus on both historical preservation and contemporary computing trends during this formative period.[12][16][14] A notable interactive exhibit during the Boston era was the Walk-Through Computer, which opened on June 23, 1990. Its purpose was to help visitors learn how computers work by navigating a giant-scale model of a computer system. The exhibit included a desktop computer, a giant monitor, a 25-foot (7.6 m) keyboard, and a 40-inch (1,016 mm) diameter trackball (originally planned to be a bumper-car sized mouse). Visitors controlled the World Traveler program using the giant trackball. The exhibit also featured a Software Theater that demonstrated how computer programs work using animation and hardware video alongside a video feed of the World Traveler Program. The original exhibit closed on August 5, 1995. It re-opened on October 21, 1995, as Walk-Through Computer 2000, which incorporated an updated monitor, 3D graphics, and more interactive features. One such feature allowed visitors to change the pits imprinted on a giant CD-ROM, with the changes displayed on a monitor.[11] By the early 1990s, rapid growth in collections outpaced the available space at the Boston location, prompting initial planning for expansion or relocation to accommodate the increasing volume of donations and artifacts. This challenge underscored the museum's success in attracting global contributions while highlighting the need for larger facilities to sustain its educational mission.[17]

Relocation and Expansion

In 1992, The Computer Museum in Boston initiated the relocation of its historical collection to Mountain View, California, seeking greater proximity to the Silicon Valley technology industry and leveraging support from Hewlett-Packard, a key local pioneer in computing.[11] This move addressed the museum's need for expanded space and stronger ties to the region's innovation ecosystem, where many computing advancements originated. The relocation process spanned several years, involving the shipment of a large number of artifacts from the Boston location of The Computer Museum. The Computer Museum ceased operations in 1999, with the remaining artifacts shipped to The Computer Museum History Center in 2000.[11] The new site was established in 1996–1997 as The Computer Museum History Center at a site provided by NASA at the former Moffett Field naval air station, in a building previously used as a Naval Base furniture store.[11] Significant funding from donors enabled the setup and launch of early exhibits that highlighted regional innovation, such as "The Silicon Valley Story," which explored the area's role in shaping modern technology.[11] These initial displays drew visitors by connecting historical artifacts to the ongoing evolution of computing in the heart of Silicon Valley. The name was changed to the Computer History Museum (CHM) in 2000 to reflect its broadened focus on computing heritage.[11] In 2002, the museum opened its new permanent building to the public in Mountain View, in a facility previously occupied by Silicon Graphics.[11] In July 2008, former media executive John Hollar was appointed CEO of the Computer History Museum.[18] In 2009, the museum hosted the National Inventors Hall of Fame induction ceremony, inducting fifteen contributors to semiconductor technology in recognition of the golden jubilee of the integrated circuit.[19] The museum underwent a two-year, $19 million makeover before reopening in January 2011.[20] Further growth came in 2001 with an expansion that introduced a visible storage laboratory, allowing public access to approximately 200 artifacts in a climate-controlled environment designed to showcase the museum's growing collection without traditional exhibit constraints.[21] This addition emphasized transparency in preservation practices and increased engagement with the museum's holdings.

Recent Developments

In March 2018, Dan'l Lewin replaced John Hollar as CEO of the Computer History Museum.[22] In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Computer History Museum closed to the public in March 2020, joining widespread shutdowns of cultural institutions worldwide.[23] During the two-year closure, the museum shifted to virtual programming, leveraging its newly launched website to expand digital content creation, including online exhibits, educational resources, and virtual events to maintain public engagement.[24] The oral history program continued remotely, preserving firsthand accounts from computing pioneers through video interviews amid the disruptions.[2] The museum reopened on February 19, 2022, implementing enhanced safety protocols such as capacity limits, mandatory masking, and contactless ticketing to ensure visitor health.[23] To support ongoing digital access, the institution enhanced tools like its interactive Timeline of Computer History, an online chronology of computing milestones that allows users to explore artifacts, events, and innovations from 1933 onward.[25] Recent acquisitions have bolstered the museum's focus on emerging technologies. In fiscal year 2025, the collection grew with 97 donations, including the Intel ETANN chip—a pioneering 1989 electrostatically tunable analog neural network hardware representing early AI advancements.[3] In 2024, the museum highlighted video game consoles through its "Retro Games: From Atari to Xbox" exhibit, drawing on historic systems like the Atari 2600 and Intellivision to illustrate gaming's evolution.[26] The November 2024 opening of the "Chatbots Decoded: Exploring AI" exhibit further expanded holdings with over 30 artifacts, such as early conversational AI machines and talking toys, to contextualize modern large language models.[6] The fiscal year 2025 report underscores growth in public involvement, with 94,170 exhibit visitors and the recording of 31 video interviews on artificial intelligence as part of new research initiatives decoding AI's societal impact.[3] Supporting membership stood at 1,828, contributing to sustained operations amid rising attendance.[3] Sustainability efforts advanced through the 2024 Strategy to 2030, emphasizing energy-efficient practices and long-term environmental planning for artifact preservation, building on prior grants for facility improvements.[27][28]

Facilities and Collections

Physical Spaces and Layout

The Computer History Museum is housed in a 120,000-square-foot facility at 1401 N. Shoreline Boulevard in Mountain View, California.[29] The collection was relocated from the Boston area in 1996, with the current facility undergoing renovations starting in 2002 and opening to the public in phases concluding in 2011, enabling the accommodation of extensive collections and enhanced visitor experiences following the museum's relocation from Boston.[30][29][11] The layout emphasizes efficient visitor flow, beginning in the lobby equipped with an orientation video that introduces the museum's narrative on computing evolution.[31] Core areas include the Grand Hall (11,777 sq ft, capacity up to 400), the Hahn Auditorium (capacity 350–400 for lectures and presentations), and the Leslie Gallery (2,252 sq ft, capacity 70–150).[32] These spaces are interconnected to support seamless transitions between static viewing areas and interactive or programmatic zones, with ground-floor placement for major galleries and amenities to optimize navigation.[33] Accessibility features ensure inclusivity, including wheelchair ramps throughout the building, available audio guides for narrated tours, and multilingual support introduced in 2023 to assist diverse visitors.[34] Modern technology is woven into the design via interactive kiosks distributed across the galleries, allowing hands-on exploration of historical contexts without disrupting the architectural flow.[35] As of 2025, the museum maintains operating hours from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday, remaining closed on Mondays and Tuesdays, with general adult admission at $21.50.[36][34]

Hardware Artifacts

The Hardware Artifacts collection at the Computer History Museum encompasses nearly 90,000 physical items, documenting the evolution of computing hardware from the 1940s to the present day. This vast repository includes original machines, components, and functional replicas that represent pivotal advancements in technology. Key examples span early electromechanical devices, such as components from the 1947 Harvard Mark II computer, which featured in the famous "first computer bug" incident involving a moth trapped in its relays, to landmark personal computers like the 1976 Altair 8800, the first commercially successful microcomputer kit that sparked the home computing revolution.[37][38] Notable categories within the collection highlight diverse eras and innovations. Mainframes are exemplified by components from the ENIAC, the pioneering 1945 electronic general-purpose computer that weighed over 30 tons and performed 5,000 additions per second, with surviving chips and modules preserved to illustrate vacuum-tube computing. Personal computers form another core segment, including the 1969 Neiman Marcus Kitchen Computer, marketed as the first home computer for consumer use although few were sold, and the Apple I, Steve Wozniak's 1976 single-board design sold without a case or peripherals, marking the birth of the Apple company. Networking gear is represented by the 1969 ARPANET Interface Message Processor (IMP), a ruggedized minicomputer built by Bolt, Beranek and Newman that enabled the first packet-switched network connections between research institutions. Computer graphics innovations are represented by the Utah teapot, a seminal 3D model created in 1975 at the University of Utah and widely used as a benchmark in computer rendering and graphics research.[39][40][41][42][43] Preservation efforts ensure the longevity of these artifacts through specialized techniques. Items are stored in modern, climate-controlled facilities in Milpitas, California, maintaining optimal temperature and humidity to prevent degradation of delicate materials like vacuum tubes and magnetic tapes. Acquired in 2007, this offsite storage supports the museum's capacity to house expanding collections while allowing for careful restoration and documentation.[4] Parts of the collection are accessible through guided tours and the online catalog, showcasing working prototypes and rare items alongside everyday devices, emphasizing the tangible scale of technological history. Software that originally operated on many of these machines is archived separately to complement hardware study.[44]

Software and Digital Archives

The software collection is curated by Al Kossow, a former Apple Computer employee who was hired by the museum in 2006. Kossow was a long-time contributor to the museum and is the proprietor of Bitsavers, a major online repository of historical computer manuals, software, and firmware.[45][46] The Computer History Museum houses an extensive software collection comprising over 50,000 titles and several hundred gigabytes of digital storage, encompassing pivotal examples such as the source code for UNIX from the 1970s, which was publicly released by the museum in 2019 to mark the operating system's 50th anniversary,[47] Adobe Photoshop 1.0.1 donated by Adobe in 2013,[48] the APL programming language received in 2012, Adobe PostScript donated by Adobe in 2022,[49] and early MS-DOS versions donated by Microsoft including SCP MS-DOS 1.25 and variants of Altos MS-DOS 2.11 and TeleVideo PC DOS 2.11. This collection also includes software related to early video games, notably Pong from 1972, highlighting the evolution of interactive entertainment programming.[50] These holdings preserve not only the code but also the contextual documentation that illustrates software's role in technological innovation. Central to the museum's archival efforts is its oral history program, launched in 1995, which conducts video interviews covering topics such as computer systems, networking, data-processing, memory, and data-storage and has amassed over 1,200 interviews with computing pioneers, including Rear Admiral Grace Hopper, whose 1980 recollections detail her foundational work in programming and compilers.[51] In 2020, the program digitized its collection for broader online accessibility, enabling researchers and the public to explore firsthand accounts of computing history through audio and video formats.[52] The museum's archives include 4,000 ft (1,200 m) of cataloged documentation, and its digital archives feature approximately 3 million documents and photographs, capturing the breadth of computing's societal impact.[46] Key preservation initiatives include a 2019 partnership with the Software Preservation Network to advance strategies for long-term software access, alongside the development of emulation tools that allow vintage operating systems to run on contemporary hardware, thereby maintaining functionality without original equipment.[53] Ongoing digitization efforts include the 2025 launch of the OpenCHM digital portal, offering public access to over 267,000 records from the collections.[3] In 2025, the museum preserved the neural network behind Geoffrey Hinton's Nobel Prize work.[54]

Exhibitions

The Computer History Museum features indoor interactive exhibits that span the history of computing from antique computers to modern AI developments, including exhibits on neural networks and contributions from AI pioneers.[55]

Permanent Displays

The permanent displays at the Computer History Museum provide a comprehensive, ongoing narrative of computing's evolution through fixed installations that emphasize thematic and chronological milestones. These exhibits draw from the museum's vast collection to illustrate technological advancements, human ingenuity, and societal impacts, allowing visitors to engage with artifacts and stories that span millennia. The centerpiece is "Revolution: The First 2000 Years of Computing," a permanent exhibition launched on January 13, 2011, occupying 25,000 square feet across 19 galleries.[29] It traces computing history from the abacus to the Internet, featuring over 1,000 artifacts that highlight pivotal developments in hardware, software, and applications, including neural network technologies and works by modern AI pioneers such as Geoffrey Hinton's AlexNet.[29][56] The full exhibit is available to view online.[57] Notable examples include a working version of Charles Babbage's Difference Engine No. 2, constructed by the Science Museum of London and on loan from former Microsoft executive Nathan Myhrvold from 2008 until January 31, 2016, a 19th-century mechanical calculator demonstrating early automated computation principles, as well as donated Intel ETANN neural network chips representing early hardware implementations of neural networks.[29][58] The galleries are organized thematically and chronologically, covering eras from mechanical calculators and vacuum tubes to personal computers and the internet, with immersive storytelling that connects individual inventions to broader revolutions in science, business, and culture.[29] A dedicated section within Revolution explores the history of video games, showcasing over 50 years of interactive entertainment through artifacts such as Spacewar!, created by Steve Russell on the PDP-1 (with Steve Russell photographed operating the museum's restored PDP-1), pioneering Atari consoles and hands-on demonstrations of classic titles.[29] This gallery underscores gaming's role in advancing computing accessibility, graphics, and user interfaces, from early arcade systems to modern digital ecosystems. Another permanent exhibit is "Make Software: Change the World!", launched on January 28, 2017. This 6,000 square foot (560 m²) exhibition explores how people's lives are transformed by software, designed for middle schoolers and up, and features multimedia and touchscreen interactives, including a software lab where visitors can explore coding.[59] Complementing this, "The Silicon Engine: A Timeline of Semiconductors in Computers" serves as a focused narrative on Silicon Valley's entrepreneurial legacy, presenting an interactive timeline of semiconductor innovations from the 1940s onward.[60] It highlights key companies like Intel, whose microprocessors transformed personal computing, and traces the ecosystem of startups and firms that fueled the region's status as a global innovation hub.[60] Interactive elements enhance visitor engagement across these displays.[29] These features, integrated since the exhibition's debut and expanded with augmented reality tours by 2017, enable deeper exploration without risking delicate artifacts.[61] In fiscal year 2025, the museum's exhibits, including these permanent installations, attracted 94,170 visitors, reflecting sustained public interest in computing heritage.[3]

Temporary and Special Exhibits

The Computer History Museum presents temporary and special exhibits that rotate to address contemporary computing themes, connecting historical milestones to modern advancements and societal implications. "Chatbots Decoded: Exploring AI," launched on November 20, 2024, and ongoing into 2025, offers an immersive 2,000-square-foot experience tracing chatbot evolution from Joseph Weizenbaum's ELIZA program in 1966 to advanced generative models like GPT series, including the role of neural networks in modern AI.[6][7] Visitors interact with humanoid robots such as Ameca for live demonstrations, while video interviews with AI experts, critics, and users highlight ethical concerns, including AI's effects on employment, creativity, and decision-making.[62] Aimed at high school-aged audiences and older, the exhibit emphasizes balanced perspectives on AI's potential and risks.[63] Earlier examples include the 2012 exhibit "Going Places: A History of Surrogate Travel and Google Maps with Street View," curated under the museum's Internet History Program, which showcased web pioneers' contributions to virtual navigation and online mapping from early digital simulations to immersive street-level views.[64] In 2022–2024, "The Studio at CHM" explored the intersection of AI and creativity through interactive AI-driven art, featuring installations like Solair-E, an AI artwork that generates responses to visitor questions.[65] These exhibits often involve partnerships with technology firms. Rotations typically span 6–18 months, enhancing the museum's appeal and fostering deeper public engagement on timely topics.

Public Engagement

Educational Programs

The Computer History Museum offers extensive K-12 educational programs, including field trips that served 12,787 students in 2025, featuring hands-on workshops exploring the history of coding.[66][3] These initiatives emphasize interactive learning in the museum's Learning Lab, where students engage with historical artifacts and simulations to understand technological evolution.[67] For educators, the museum provides free online resources such as the Great Tech Story Minecraft world, which includes experiences like The Ethics Forum to explore ethics in technology, digital citizenship, and its societal impacts.[68][69] Teachers can access lesson plans, videos, and activity guides through the museum's educator portal, supporting professional development in STEM education.[70] Summer camps target children ages 8-14, offering immersive experiences that blend historical context with modern coding skills.[71] Participants engage in guided activities to build computational thinking and creativity.[71] To promote inclusivity, the museum builds on earlier programs like Get Invested, expanding opportunities in computing education for diverse youth.[70][72] These youth-oriented activities contribute to building computing literacy and enthusiasm, as evidenced by high satisfaction rates in recent visitor surveys.[3] In 2025, the museum launched the OpenCHM digital portal, providing public access to digitized collections and resources to support educational outreach.[3]

Events and Community Outreach

The Computer History Museum (CHM) hosts the CHM Live series, featuring regular conversations and debates with thought leaders on technology's historical and contemporary impacts, including innovation, ethics, and societal transformation.[73] Examples include the October 2025 event "This Time It's Different: AI Startups Across Three Generations," which examined AI development trends, and the September 2025 discussion "Cold War Computing: Balkan Cyberia," exploring early computing in Eastern Europe.[74][75] Past speakers have included prominent figures such as Apple innovator Tony Fadell, Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey, and former Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg, fostering public discourse on computing's evolution.[76] CHM engages communities through strategic partnerships that extend its reach beyond the museum walls, such as collaborations with public broadcaster KQED for the Revolutionaries interview series and with Audible and Treefort Media for podcast production starting in 2024.[73][77] These initiatives connect local and global audiences to computing history, including corporate history partnerships that preserve Silicon Valley business narratives.[70] Additionally, CHM supports broader outreach via discussion guides accompanying CHM Live events, designed for adult and community groups to explore topics like entrepreneurship and women in technology.[78] Virtual events amplify CHM's accessibility, with CHM Live programs streamed live and archived on YouTube, accumulating thousands of views per episode—for instance, the 2025 AI startups discussion garnered over 800 views as of November 2025.[74] The museum's Decoding Tech podcast, launched in collaboration with Audible in February 2024, features expert interviews on technology's past, present, and future, complementing in-person talks by reaching remote listeners worldwide.[79][77] To encourage hands-on community involvement, CHM organizes hackathon-style events like Hack the Future, an annual gathering where participants engage in self-directed software and hardware projects under mentorship from industry professionals.[80] The museum also facilitates volunteer-driven restoration efforts, where teams of dedicated individuals, including retired engineers, repair historical artifacts; a notable example involved 20 volunteers dedicating 20,000 hours over 10 years to restore IBM mainframes, enhancing public appreciation of computing heritage.[81] Since 2021, CHM has prioritized inclusivity through initiatives like the May 2022 I.D.E.A. (Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, Accessibility) forum for Bay Area museum professionals, promoting equitable access to technology narratives.[82] Events such as the 2023 "Character Building" program address linguistic barriers in digital spaces, featuring Unicode experts discussing multilingual support and online inclusivity.[83] Visitor guidelines emphasize accommodations for diverse needs, ensuring a welcoming environment for all attendees.[84]

Awards and Recognition

Fellow Awards Program

The Computer History Museum's Fellow Awards Program recognizes individuals for outstanding merits and significant contributions to the advancement of computing and the evolution of the digital age. It honors computing pioneers—men and women whose ideas have changed the world and affected nearly every human alive today—for their lifetime achievements in advancing the field through innovation and leadership. Originating from awards initiated in 1987 by The Computer Museum in Boston, founded by Gwen Bell, the program recognized its first fellow, Admiral Grace Murray Hopper, for her pioneering work in programming languages and standardization efforts.[85][86] Following the 1996 founding of the Computer History Museum and its 1999 merger with The Computer Museum, the initiative was formally adopted and has continued annually under CHM, celebrating individuals whose contributions have shaped the digital age.[11] The selection process begins with public nominations for living individuals, accepted year-round, submitted via a formal form detailing the nominee's qualifications in 500–1,500 words; self-nominations are not permitted, though group nominations for collaborators are allowed.[87] A committee comprising historians, researchers, industry leaders, CHM staff, and past fellows reviews submissions, prioritizing significant and lasting impacts such as foundational research, paradigm-shifting developments, or advancements in computing's societal adoption.[87] Criteria emphasize innovation's historical significance, with sufficient time elapsed for evaluation, while promoting diversity across disciplines like hardware, software, and networks, without bias based on age, gender, race, or nationality.[87] Each year culminates in a gala ceremony at the Museum, featuring documentary videos, acceptance speeches, and tributes from peers, as seen in the 2024 event on November 16, which inducted five honorees: Allan Alcorn for developing Pong at Atari, Nolan Bushnell for founding Atari and pioneering video games, Elizabeth "Jake" Feinler for her leadership in early Internet infrastructure like the Network Information Center, Steven Mayer for innovations in computer graphics at Atari, and Jensen Huang for visionary advancements in graphics processing and AI at NVIDIA.[88] As of 2025, the program has inducted 100 fellows, including early inductees such as Jay Wright Forrester in 1995, Mitch Kapor and Ken Olsen in 1996, and notable figures like Tim Berners-Lee for inventing the World Wide Web.[85][89][90] As part of their legacy, fellows contribute to CHM's collections through oral histories, artifacts, and documents, preserving firsthand accounts of computing's evolution for public access and education; the program is supported by corporate sponsors such as Oracle, Accenture, and NVIDIA.[85][88]

Other Honors and Partnerships

The Computer History Museum has received several institutional awards recognizing its contributions to education, preservation, and innovation in computing history. In 2011, it was awarded the HP Catalyst Initiative grant, which supports global STEM education collaborations and has enabled the museum to partner with over 55 educational institutions across 15 countries to foster innovative programs in technology literacy.[91] Additionally, the museum earned a 2013 Museums for America grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) to enhance its core operations and public access to collections, underscoring its role in strengthening community engagement with computing heritage.[92] In 2016, a National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) grant funded the development of a long-term sustainability plan for artifact preservation, focusing on energy-efficient environmental controls to protect the museum's extensive holdings.[28] Key partnerships have expanded the museum's reach and capabilities in digital preservation and outreach. Since 2011, collaborations with Google, including a $500,000 Google.org grant, have supported the digitization of over 84 terabytes of digital collections, growing annually by 12-15 terabytes and making historical materials more accessible online.[93] The museum also partnered with Google's Cultural Institute to create virtual exhibits, bringing interactive experiences from its physical galleries to global audiences.[94] In 2021, a joint initiative with Microsoft and the SaaS platform Terentia aimed to build a next-generation digital museum platform, integrating tools for collection management, visitor engagement, and data analytics to modernize archival practices.[95] Further, partnerships with the IEEE have facilitated co-production of oral histories, such as those documenting early computing pioneers, enhancing the museum's archival depth through shared expertise in technical history.[96] Research collaborations, including joint projects with Stanford University on AI and robotics history, have produced scholarly outputs that contextualize technological evolution; for instance, artifacts like the SRI mouse prototype (1964) highlight early innovations stemming from such academic ties.[97] Funding alliances have bolstered these efforts, with endowments like a 2019 $50,000 grant from the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) for audio preservation under the Recordings at Risk program, and ongoing support from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission for processing software collections.[98] In 2014, a partnership with the Broadcom Foundation launched the Design Code Build program, targeting underserved youth with hands-on computing education.[99] These honors and partnerships have driven measurable impact, contributing to the growth of the museum's collection to over 1 million items by 2025, including digitized archives and new acquisitions that support public and scholarly access.[3]

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