From the Archives

Arnold Spielberg is renowned for his work on machines like the RCA BIZMAC and the GE-225 for General Electric. In one of the Museum's earliest oral histories, Gardner Hendrie interviews Spielberg about his work in real-time and point-of-sales systems. Image: © General ElectricCatalog Record: Oral History of Arnold Spielberg

Ivan Sutherland is often referred to as the “Father of Computer Graphics.” His work at Harvard, MIT, the University of Utah, and DARPA aided the development of networking, graphics, virtual reality, and robotics technologies. In this 1996 lecture “Virtual Reality before It Had that Name,” Sutherland describes his time at Harvard and the initial steps toward early virtual reality systems.

Danny Hillis, inventor and cofounder of Thinking Machines Corporation, designed the Connection Machine series of supercomputers. In this 1991 lecture, Hillis describes the development path for the Connection Machines and the design considerations for the Connection Machine 5 supercomputer. What’s that sound? The sounds of Hillis writing on a chalkboard as he shares his design concepts are captured as part of this recording. Image: Courtesy of Tamiko Thiel

Computer programmer and Grolier Award–winning poet Grace Morton presents a talk and demo on computer poetry as a part of the Bits + Bites lectures at the Boston Computer Museum in 1983. Morton uses a TRS-80 computer to create poetry, both generative and interactive forms, with participation from the audience.

Seymour Cray is often referred to as the “Father of Supercomputing.” In part two of his 1988 lecture “What's All This about Gallium Arsenide?,” Cray continues his talk on the use of gallium arsenide in his Cray-3 and Cray-4 supercomputer designs and how the compound could change the course of computer design. Image: © Cray Computer Corporation. Collection of the Computer History Museum,102618665.

Rear Admiral Grace Murray Hopper's career in computer science began in the 1940s. Her work with early computers, including the Harvard Mark I, led to ground-breaking and fundamental advances in computer science. Here, Hopper discusses her work with Howard Aiken and the Mark-I computer in a 1983 lecture at the Boston Computer Museum. Image: Photo by Carolyn Sweeny. Collection of the Computer History Museum, 102630706.

Seymour Cray is often referred to as the “Father of Supercomputing.” In part one of his 1988 lecture “What's All This about Gallium Arsenide?,” Cray talks about the use of gallium arsenide in his Cray-3 and Cray-4 supercomputer designs and how the compound could change the course of computer design.Image: © Cray Computer Corporation. Collection of the Computer History Museum,102685990.

Suzanne Ciani is a Grammy-nominated musician, composer, and sound designer whose career has spanned more than 40 years. Here, she discusses her work with the Buchla synthesizers, designing audio logos for various companies, and how she carved a place for herself in the early days of American electronic music.Image: © Suzanne Ciani

In his 2012 oral history, engineer and Atari cofounder Samuel F. “Ted” Dabney discusses his work with Nolan Bushnell and the early days of Atari, including the development of the arcade game Pong. Dabney passed away on May 26, 2018.Image: © Allan Alcorn

Evelyn Berezin was born in the Bronx, New York, in 1925. She received her bachelor’s degree in physics in 1945 from NYU, followed by an Atomic Energy Commission fellowship for graduate study in 1946. In 1962 Evelyn Berezin built a reservations system for United Airlines, one of the largest computer systems built at the time. In 1969 she founded and served as CEO of Redactron, a new maker of word processors. In the second part of this two-part series, Berezin discusses the challenges of being a woman systems designer in the male-dominated world of the 1960s, as well as her work designing a digital computer for a horse-racing track.