The West Coast version of a Smithsonian is one way to characterize the Computer History Museum (CHM) in Mountain View, CA. This was one of many take-aways from an excellent discussion of this Silicon Valley institution with CHM president and CEO, John Hollar, and CHM chairman, Len Shustek. Organized and moderated by IEEE Silicon Valley Technology History Committee Chairman, […]
Alan introduces the two CHM leaders who exhibit a very rare combination of exceptional competence with modesty and humility. Len relates his experience with computers in junior high and his motivation for starting Nestar Systems in 1979 – a very risky and gutsy initiative. [Description and Title by Alan Weissberger]
John describes his education and various career moves prior to joining CHM as CEO/President in 2008. His many careers included: Journalist, FCC Legal Advisor/Chief of Staff, Media Executive at PBS and then Pearson in London, and now CHM President/CEO. “PBS.org was like riding a rocket,” he said. Built international team at Pearson to get “an old media […]
Len explains how he and his partner founded Nestar to build “sniffers” to diagnose LANs. After it merged with 2 other companies in 1994, Len left Nestar and started teaching computer architecture at Stanford. All the history was gone from the curriculum which troubled Len. He started researching computer history museums in the world to […]
The presentation by Len Shustek, PhD and John Hollar, JD may be accessed here: http://sites.ieee.org/sv-techhist/files/2014/10/Presentation20141009-CHM_history_IEEESV_03.pdf [Description and Title provided by Alan Weissberger – thanks, Alan]
John describes how a group of committed CHM volunteers found an IBM 1401 in Germany, brought it back to CHM in Mt View and restored it. A second 1401 was later found in a private home in N.Y. and brought back to the museum. Several years later, with additional funding, the IBM 1401 became an […]
John describes how the museum was fortunate to have a core group of donors to help CHM in bad times like during the height of the 2008-2009 financial crisis. In Oct 2008, CHM Board voted to move ahead with the Revolutionary Exhibit, but hadn’t raised a dime by Feb 2009. A 100K contribution got the […]
John explains why it’s a great privilege to be CEO of CHM with so many committed staffers, volunteers, docents, and board members. He believes CHM will be an international landmark, if it’s not one already. It’s just as important for CHM to be a thought leader in its scope in addition to the subject matter […]
John describes the museum’s multi-dimensional way of telling people about software and making it attractive to kids. A new middle school program called Design – Code – Build using centered around the Raspberry Pi , a credit card size computer. More than 400 students (as young as 11 or 12 years old) will be involved in […]
John describes how he took several CHM tours with subject matter experts to learn the various aspects of computing. It was like going to graduate school he said. Putting very smart people on stage who can express themselves well is essential for a good program. John prepares by asking the speakers the questions he thinks […]