By Dag Spicer The silicon chip, or integrated circuit (IC), is one of humankind’s most magnificent, complex, and transformative creations. The IC itself is a silicon sandwich made up of many transistors (little switches) wired together into electrical circuits. Since Robert Noyce and Jack Kilby’s coinvention of the IC in…

By David C. Brock LYNN CONWAY AND TRANSGENDER COMMUNITY ONLINE Across the United States, countless Americans have celebrated and honored LGBTQ+ Pride Month this year, 2022. They have paraded, cheered, and reflected in solidarity with their families, friends, and strangers alike. These observations have taken place against an outrageous, hateful, and ultimately failed attempt by right-wing…

By Heidi Hackford Sal Khan Gets Down to Earth “Free world-class education for anyone anywhere.” That’s the ambitious mission of the popular online learning platform Khan Academy. Visionary founder Sal Khan, winner of the CHM Patrick J. McGovern Tech for Humanity Luminary award, was onstage at CHM in a rare appearance on June 1, 2022. …

By David C. Brock A Software Entrepreneur and LGBTQ+ History With each passing year, the place of June as LGBTQ+ Pride Month seems to gain greater recognition and wider celebration. This year, I was delighted to talk to my 76-year-old aunt about her experience marching for the first time in a Pride parade-from Lambertville, New Jersey…

By Dag Spicer The Los Alamos Conference For five summer days in 1976, the first generation of computer rock stars had its own Woodstock. Coming from around the world, dozens of computing’s top engineers, scientists, and software pioneers got together to reflect upon the first 25 years of their discipline in the warm, sunny…

By David C. Brock CHM Showcases Early Computer Films, 1963–1972 From the earliest days of digital electronic computers, people have used them to make art: from pictures to poems, screenplays, and literature, from music to films. From June 1 through September 1, CHM is exhibiting a selection of early computer films made between 1963 and 1972…

By Heidi Hackford Tony Fadell On Building Great Things Tony Fadell had a hand in creating some of the most influential devices of all time, including the iPod, the iPhone, and the Nest thermostat. He also authored over 300 patents and a new book, Build: An Unorthodox Guide to Making Things Worth Making. …

By Heidi Hackford The Story of Handspring A decade before Steve Jobs introduced the iPhone, a tiny team of renegades attempted to build the modern smartphone. On May 6, 2022, CHM Live shared the story of Handspring with a 30-minute documentary called Springboard: The Secret History of the First Real Smartphone followed by a…

By Heidi Hackford Klara Dán von Neumann and the Birth of Computer Programming She was not just Steve Jobs in a dress. — Thomas Haigh For every Marie Curie and Rosalind Franklin, there are likely hundreds of remarkable women in science whose stories have never been told. That’s the premise of the Lost Women of Science Initiative, according to podcast…