Computer History Museum

Description 

Ames/Moffett Field is pretty much in the middle of Silicon Valley.  A lot of computer history has been made in this area, and the Computer History Museum is dedicated to keeping track of it. Current exhibits include the Babbage difference engine and a history of data storage.  In addition to the physical exhibits at its "bricks-and-mortar" location, the museum also has a number of exhibits that exist only on-line.

The Babbage Difference Engine is the current star attraction.  It is a copy built from plans developed by Charles Babbage in the 1800s; while his design worked, it was never completed during his lifetime.  The engine is a multi-ton confection of brass and iron that uses the method of differences to calculate the value of polynomial functions.  The British were interested in an automated device that could do such calculations because navigators on their ships used them to help determine where they were.  At the time (and for more than a century after), such tables were calculated by hand, and human errors kept creeping into them.  This was important:  if a ship captain ran over a reef because he was 5 miles south of where he thought he was, the ship was destroyed, the cargo sank, the investors lost their money, the crew drowned, and the Captain lost his hat.

At any rate, the difference engine is an extraordinary machine, well worth a look.

Note:  the original schedule indicated that the difference engine would be on display through April 2009, but as of July 2009 it's still listed on the museum's web site as a current exhibit.

Docent-led tours are available periodically throughout the day.  Photography is allowed, but backpacks are not permitted in the exhibit areas.  This isn't just someone being uptight, since there's a lot of antique computer hardware within arm's reach that would fit nicely in a backpack.  "Antique" in the computer world usually means anything more than 18 months old, but in this case some of the hardware goes back to the 60s and earlier.  (In the case of the Babbage engine, about a hundred years earlier.)

Main Web Site

http://www.computerhistory.org/

Location

1401 North Shoreline Boulevard, Mountain View, CA

Drive Time

from Ames (per Google maps):  6 minutes

Public Transit

???

Hours

Wed - Fri:  12 PM to 4 PM

Sat:  11 AM to 5 PM

Sun:  12 PM to 4 PM

(closed Mon - Tue)

Cost

FREE  (Donations are welcome.)