The lovely Steve Colgan and I had a great visit to The National Museum of Computing last week. We were given a fab tour of all the museum by the very knowledgable Kevin Murrell. Just check out a few of the fabulous computing history artefacts on display there. Its like a trip down memory lane and beyond for anyone who has been involved in computing.
We saw the Harwell Dekatron or WITCH, the oldest working computer in the world.
What a beautiful machine, with a fabulously relaxing sound as it runs. Here’s a Vine short video of it running:
https://vine.co/v/OAmhqvzP07t
What do you think? Isn’t it fabulous? š
All of the machines at the museum have been restored with tender loving care by an army of dedicated volunteers.
It is a treasure trove of computing history. The piece de resistance at The National Museum of Computing has to be Tony Sale and his team’s rebuild of Colossus: the world’s first programmable digital computer. It is an absolute masterpiece. Invented and built during WW2 by genius post office engineer Tommy Flowers at Dollis Hill in London to mechanise the codebreaking process.
I really enjoyed getting a close up look at the valves. They are so beautiful.
Here’s a link to a short Vine video of Colossus running: https://vine.co/v/OAmuI7EFgiQ
Love it!
The National Museum of Computing is based at Bletchley Park near Milton Keynes, north of London. The fast train from Euston Station in London takes only 36 minutes, its a great place for a day trip. It is usually open on Thursday, Saturday and Sunday afternoons from 12-4pm. Check here for details before you travel: http://www.tnmoc.org/visit
It would be great to hear about other computing history museums from around the world. Do tell me about your favourite computing museum with a link below in the comments. I’d love to hear about computer history museums from around the world:) I’ve visited the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California, several times, which is great too. I absolutely loved their working model of Babbage’s Difference Engine. Unfortunately I can’t find a pic or video of it, so here’s a pic of their fab geek badges instead
It’s so important for us to look after and showcase our computing heritage. Computers and computing have changed, and are changing, rapidly. Look at the way 8Mgb was stored in the first photo above in the 1970s, and think about the size of 8Mgb storage on a mobile phone today. What a massive difference!
Do visit TNMOC if you get the chance, and if you would like to help them with their work make a donation through their website. All donations are doubled by matched funding from a generous sponsor.