Why. The Computer Museum presents a history of evolution of computers over ages. The past century and in particular the past fifty years witnessed a rapid development of microelectronics and computers that has transformed our ways of thinking, working, communicating, playing  and in general organizing our lives. It has led to creation of a global society linked via the internet.

Today’s older generations witnessed many of these developments. In the span of a few decades, we have seen computers evolve from slow, expensive, huge machines to small, powerful, multi-purpose devices that are omnipresent in our lives. A “mainframe” used to be a computer like the 1940s ENIAC, that filled a room, weighed tons, used an enormous amount of power, and took many hours to perform most tasks. Today a computer, thousands of times more powerful than yesterday’s mainframe fits into your smart phone. The new generations grow up taking all these modifications for granted and do not envisage a world without computers and the Internet. They grow up knowing little about how all this happened. Many do not realise that much of what we see around us was built using mechanical analog computers. The first men to travel to the moon carried a slide rule analog computer with them.

The fast development of the computing technology induces us to discard outdated technology soon after its appearance. We should however preserve these “artefacts” and the why and how of their development.  As much as old buildings, they constitute our cultural heritage, which we must transmit to the future generations. Fortunately, we do not have to dig around deserts or dive underwater to seek these, as this happened to discover that old computing engine the Antikythera and wonder what it is.  Numerous artefacts are still around and we can still talk to people involved in this development.

Modern computer development is entwined with scientific development in many fields: physics, mathematics, chemistry, biology, brain science… Tomorrow’s quantum computers as they are called, are becoming a reality and are set to provoke significant changes starting from cryptography. Computers are prevalent today in arts and design as much as in science and have induced many fascinating arts-science collaborations. How many people know that this arts-science collaboration trend in computers started as soon as computers appeared?

We invite you to explore this fascinating Computer History and  Information Revolution viewing this gallery. The objective is to provide an introductory overview of the subject. In some instances some technical details are provided to put into clearer perspective the evolution of the technology and the  incredible increase in performance along with the miniaturisation that occurred over years. We have now entered into a new era: that of the rapid development of artificial intelligence, which is leading to another revolution. One that will again influence drastically the way we work and spells out clearly the need to emphasize creative professions in education. The exhibition looks not only on computer development, with their obvious applications in exact sciences and technology, but also on their influence in other areas like art and design.

What & Who. The computer collection is that of an experimental physicist, who is the original promoter of KASS. He has been involved with computers for around fifty years. He started  programming in ALGOL60, using mainframe computers and punched cards; used vacuum tube calculators and slide rules; worked with the first INTEL 8080 system design kit and interfacing it to wire wrapped dedicated electronics for physics experiments, programming in machine code.  He has seen the “golden age” of PC development when all was possible and not standardised as it tends to be today. These exciting developments were reflected in one of his favourite publications of the 1975-1995 period: Byte magazine. He has tinkered with computer games and computer art related to  his interest in photography.