[SIGCIS-Members] Philly Compuseum's "ENIAC Founders, Families and Futures - 80 Years On" in West Chester, PA and online (free) on Sunday 2 to 4pm Eastern

[Jeffrey Yost]

Dear Colleagues,

The new Philadelphia Compuseum (honored to have just been added to the
Advisory Board) is holding a 2 hour (online) conference event, and 4 hour
(at the museum) festivities with reception, an ENIAC cake, etc. (the cake
has candied vacuum tubes and all, but photos can hold up SIGCIS posts so
you can see it at the Compuseum website if interested).

 The online Program is 2-4pm Eastern on Sunday and is free, a Zoom meeting.
It will have talks by a combination of some historians such as Kathy
Kleiman, Paul Ceruzzi and me; some talks by the daughters, sons, and
grandchildren of John Mauchly, J. Presper-Eckert, Jean Bartik.... such as
John Mauchly and Kay McNulty's son Bill Mauchly.

The Compuseum is early in the formative stages without a location yet. It
will be seeking a physical location in Philadelphia in the near future. The
Compuseum is partnering with a large museum in the Philly Metro, the
American Helicopter Museum, for the ENIAC Event.  Hope to see some of you
in person (I am going to Philly and will present in person) or online.

Best, Jeff

[Cut and pasted text from the Compuseum is below]



*80th Anniversary Celebration of ENIACAmerican Helicopter Museum, West
Chester, PAFebruary 15th, 2026  (Sunday)*




*Sign Up
Here:https://www.helicoptermuseum.org/event-details/eniac-day-celebration
<https://www.helicoptermuseum.org/event-details/eniac-day-celebration>
(online attendance is FREE)$20 per person for Museum Entry. Zoom attendees
no charge, Registration Required.*

The year 2026 marks 80 years since the public unveiling of ENIAC on
February 15, 1946, a moment widely recognized as the birth of the modern
computer age. ENIAC — the Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer —
was the world’s first all‑electronic, programmable, general‑purpose
computer, and its debut fundamentally reshaped science, engineering, and
society.

🖥️ Why ENIAC Was Revolutionary
ENIAC was developed at the University of Pennsylvania’s Moore School of
Electrical Engineering by John Mauchly and J. Presper Eckert. It was
originally designed to compute complex ballistic trajectories for the U.S.
Army during World War II — calculations that previously took human
mathematicians days or weeks.
Key breakthroughs included:
•     Fully electronic operation using vacuum tubes
•     Programmability (though rewiring was required)
•     Massive speed improvements over mechanical calculators
•     A design that inspired generations of computer architectures
Many historians consider ENIAC one of the greatest engineering achievements
of the 20th century.

🗓️ How the 80th Anniversary Is Being Celebrated
Several organizations and communities are marking the anniversary with
events, exhibitions, and educational programs:
World Computer Day 2026
The global theme for 2026 is “ENIAC 80th Anniversary: The Computer That
Changed the World.”
Events highlight:
•     ENIAC’s global impact
•     The stories of its founders and their families
•     How wartime innovation shaped modern computing
Local Celebrations in Pennsylvania
Given ENIAC’s Philadelphia roots, regional institutions are especially
active. For example, a museum in West Chester, PA is hosting exhibits
commemorating the unveiling and exploring ENIAC’s legacy in the digital age.
ENIAC Day – February 15
Each year, ENIAC Day raises awareness of the machine’s contributions and
honors the people who built and operated it. The 80th anniversary gives
this annual celebration special significance.

🧭 Why This Anniversary Matters Today
The ENIAC anniversary isn’t just nostalgia — it’s a reminder of how quickly
computing has evolved. In 1946, ENIAC filled a room and consumed massive
amounts of power. Today, your phone outperforms it by orders of
magnitude.iAC
But the conceptual leap ENIAC represented — that machines could be fully
electronic, programmable, and general‑purpose — is the foundation of
everything from laptops to AI.

-

If you are interested in celebrating with us, sign up below...


Starting at museum open at 1PM (EST).
Video Presentation runs two hours from 2PM-4PM (EST) in the museum
Auditorium,
Afterwards is 1 hour duration "meet and greet".
Museum closes at 5PM (EST).
This is also a virtual/online/hybrid event on the Zoom Platform.
Invitations via Helicopter Museum and Compuseum

Sign Up Here:
https://www.helicoptermuseum.org/event-details/eniac-day-celebration
(online attendance is FREE)

$20 per person for Museum Entry. Zoom attendees no charge, Registration
Required.

Event Title: ENIAC Founders, Families and Futures - 80 Years On

*Presentation on Zoom and in Auditorium*


Kickoff By:

Paul Kahan (CEO- Helicopter Museum) 2 minutes
Jim Scherrer (CEO- Compuseum) 2 minutes


Keynote - Kathy Kleiman - "The Incredible People of the ENIAC Team:  Why We
Still Celebrate Them 80 Years Later."  A Deep Dive Into Proving Ground
People by Author-  "Proving Grounds; The Untold Story of the Six Women Who
Programmed the World's First Modern Computer." Purchase Book here:
https://a.co/d/0eu2p78z   (Confirmed - In person)

Brian Stuart - "The ENIAC in Context"
A deep technical dive into how the master programmer makes the ENIAC
satisfy the criteria necessary for universality in the Turing sense and to
clarify the relationship between Turing's work and that of Mauchly and
Eckert.  (Confirmed - In Person)

Paul Ceruzzi - "Perspective on ENIAC, 80 years On" Author "A New History of
Modern Computing" book along with Tom Haigh. (Confirmed Virtual)

Tom Burick -  "How Today's High School Students built a full sized replica
of ENIAC, from scratch!"  IT Instructor, PS Academy, Arizona.  Also,
presentation by student leader Ethan Myers.  (Confirmed, In Person)

Bill Mauchly -  "Giant Brain Takes Over the World" the story we can never
let go of.  Bill is from First Family of Computing - Son of John Mauchly
and Kathleen "Kay" McNulty Mauchly  (Confirmed, In Person)

Chris Eckert -  "Recollections of My Dad" First Family of Computing - Son
of J. Presper Eckert  (Confirmed, Virtual)

Gini Mauchly -  "What Kay McNulty would Tell you about How to Be
Successful."  First Family of Computing - Daughter of John Mauchly and
Kathleen "Kay" McNulty Mauchly  (Confirmed, In Person)

Naomi Most -  "Did my IT career result from my DNA" Granddaughter of Kay
McNulty (Confirmed, Virtual)

Dr. Tim Bartik -  "Recollections of My Mother". Son of  Jean Jennings
Bartik, 1st ENIAC Programmer   (Confirmed, Virtual)

Jeffrey Yost -  "The ENIAC's Unveiling: Shaping Metaphors and Meanings in
Computing"  Director, Charles Babbage Institute for Computing, Information
& Culture  (Confirmed, In Person)

Paul Shaffer -  "How the ENIAC made Quadrotor Drones Possible; From Vacuum
Tubes to Vertical Flight"  ENIAC Historian at PENN-  (Confirmed, In Person)

Kenneth Chaney "See PENN's Supercomputer" with Associate Director of AI and
Technology for PARCC - Visitors will see the Betty Holberton supercomputer
at PENN  (named after Betty Holberton, ENIAC programmer)
https://parcc.upenn.edu/systems/betty/
 (Confirmed, On Site)

Q&A Session - 10 Minutes - Audience asks Questions directed to speakers.
Moderated by Jim Scherrer and Kathy Kleiman

Show & Tell -  See quadcopter, ENIAC 3D models and members can show off
their ENIAC equipment or memorabilia.

Wrap Up Thank you from -  Jim Scherrer (Compuseum); Paul Kahan (Helicopter
Museum)


Group Photo in front of the Auditorium.

1 hour "ENIAC Cake" party at the museum (4-5PM) then after-party.
**   *   *   *   *   **
*Jeffrey Yost, Ph.D. *
*Director, Charles Babbage Institute for Computing, Information & Culture*
*Research Professor, History of Sci., Tech., Med., University of Minnesota*

*Just Code: Power, Inequality and the Political Economy of IT (Johns
Hopkins U. Press, co-edited w/ Gerardo Con Diaz)
<https://press.jhu.edu/books/title/12804/just-code> *
*Making IT Work: A History of the Computer Services Industry (MIT Press)
<https://amzn.to/3gqe4R6>*
*Studies in Computing and Culture book series, Johns Hopkins U. Press
<https://www.press.jhu.edu/books/series/studies-computing-and-culture>
*Co-Editor
(w/ Con Diaz)
*PI, NSF-funded CBI project "Mining a Useable Past: Perspectives,
Paradoxes, and Possibilities with Security and Privacy."*
*Blockchain & Society* <https://www.blockchainandsociety.com>* (crit. inq.
essays & resources)* (Founder/Leader)

*Interfaces: Essays and Reviews in Computing and Culture
<https://cse.umn.edu/cbi/interfaces> *Co-Editor-in-Chief (w/ Amanda Wick)
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.sigcis.org/pipermail/members-sigcis.org/attachments/20260212/61186001/attachment.htm>