[SIGCIS-Members] C. Gordon Bell obit.

[Brian Randell]

Hi Len:

Many thanks for the pointers to articles about Gordon Bell, the Computer Museum, and the Computer History Museum.

The published version of the third of the references you give, Gordon’s superb account of the early history of the Computer Museum,  which he presented at Newcastle in 2011, can be found at:
    https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-642-24541-1_11

I treasure my memories of my involvement in the Computer Museum’s early years – though the title I was given (Chairman of the Collections and Exhibits Committee) exaggerated my role greatly. For a start,  I have no recollection of there being an actual committee!

I did visit the Computer Museum on a number of occasions – and enjoy Gordon and Gwen Bell’s hospitality in their splendid Boston waterfront apartment. This enabled me to take part in a number of the early Board Meetings. These were chaired by Ken Olsen, and I treasure the memory of the occasion of one lunch time break when we were joined by a small group of the museum’s student interns.

The Board had discussed beforehand whether inviting interns to our lunch would be a good idea, fearing they might feel rather overawed. (I’m sure I was the only Board Member who was not a multi-millionaire!) As the lunch ended Ken Olsen told how he had just asked the interns he was sitting with whether they had any solution to the problem the Board had been discussing before lunch, namely that the Museum’s first name “Digital Computer Museum” was making it difficult to get support from other computer companies. He reported that one of the interns had immediately suggested he consider changing the name of his company – clearly this intern was far from overawed.

I am very proud to have had Gordon as a friend and colleague – he will be sorely missed.

Cheers

Brian Randell

—

School of Computing, Newcastle University, 1 Science Square, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE4 5TG
EMAIL = Brian.Randell at ncl.ac.uk   PHONE = +44 191 208 7923
URL =  https://www.ncl.ac.uk/computing/staff/profile/brianrandell.html

On 23/05/2024, 17:48, "Members" <members-bounces at lists.sigcis.org> wrote:

At 08:17 AM 5/23/2024, Ceruzzi, Paul via Members wrote:
>Among other accomplishments, Gordon was an early supporter of the
>Computer History Museum, which started at a DEC building, and began
>with pieces of the Whirlwind computer rescued from scrap (correct me
>if this is wrong).

That is correct. Articles about the history of the history museum --
both its incarnations -- are here:
https://computerhistory.org/blog/computer-history-museum-celebrating-35-years/

https://computerhistory.org/blog/len-shustek-a-man-with-a-vision-for-a-museum/

https://d1yx3ys82bpsa0.cloudfront.net/atchm/documents/Personal_Reflections_on_the_History_of_the_Computer_History_Museum_09-26-14.pdf

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/publication/out-of-a-closet-the-early-years-of-years-of-the-computer-x-museums/


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