ABSTRACT
Decades before the personal computer, computing was getting personal and social. Decades later, pieces of the great machine turned up at computer museums and at the Smithsonian. In an age when people’s only interaction with a computer was to stuff stacks of IBM cards up a computer’s rear and then wait, Whirlwind’s DNA was doing magic. The bright boys could also take pride in the fact that they were now founding fathers, ascending from cocky wise guys to venerable pillars of digital computing. Digital computing saw dozens of electrical engineering research assistants working on their master’s degrees while the staff sponsored 21 doctoral theses. In 1998, at a lecture titled “Vigilance and Vacuum Tubes: The SAGE System 1956-1963,” James Wong reminisced about those early days of his youth and the youthful profession of computer programming. Importantly, businesses had taken serious notice of computing and were investing in the technology.
