John C. Toole named Executive Director and CEO of Computer History Museum

Museum Plans World-Class Presence at
NASA Research Park

Moffett Field, Calif.— May 3, 2000 — Computer History Museum today named John C. Toole as its executive director and CEO. Former deputy director of the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA), University of Illinois, Toole will leverage his national reputation in computing research and development and lead the museum’s efforts to capture, preserve and communicate the stories and artifacts of the computing and information revolution.

The museum will build a permanent facility in the new NASA Research Park near historic Hangar One in three to five years, as part of its partnership with the NASA Ames Research Center. In addition to expanding its world class collection of artifacts, the museum will be developing many collaborations with academia, industry, and other institutions over the next three years.

"As a catalyst in the development of supercomputing in the academic, government and industrial arenas, Toole has unparalleled qualifications to lead the museum forward in its vision," said Len Shustek, Computer History Museum chairman of the board. "With Toole at the helm, this dynamic alliance of the technology industry, government and academia will connect generations to come with technologies past, present and future."

"Our goal is to develop a world center where scholars, hobbyists and novices alike can explore, contribute to and appreciate the important events and discoveries in the timeline of the information age," said John Toole. "The information technology trillionaires of tomorrow will be successful only if our technology improves all of society. The fastest way to achieve that goal is to learn from the innovators, legends, billionaires and millionaires of our past and present. Our collection of the stories and artifacts of these legends will become a world-class showcase in the future."

Exceptionally qualified leadership
John C. Toole has over 28 years of experience in creating major national alliances among government, academia and industry. His experience spans many sectors of the information technology (IT) field including hardware, software, networking and microelectronics. Toole served as executive director for High Performance Computing and Communications (HPCC), program manager, acting office director and deputy officer director at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) over a period of eight years. He was the first fulltime director of the National Coordination Office (NCO) for Computing, Information and Communications. "It is exciting to see the opportunities that can define a new information technology museum of the future, which will serve as a living legacy for those who contributed to the intellectual wealth of IT," said Toole.

Partnership with NASA
Computer History Museum is one of the leading partners in building a world-class enterprise at the NASA Research Park. NASA’s goal is to establish a world-class, shared-use, research and development campus in conjunction with local communities, involving partnerships with government, academia, private industry and non-profit organizations. A 200-acre park will be located on federal property that NASA acquired when the Navy left Moffett Field in 1994. The park will be open to the public. Here, NASA and its partners will pursue research leadership for the next century.

"NASA’s roots in information technology are linked to some of the most significant accomplishments we have seen in the history of computing," said NASA Ames Research Center Director Dr. Henry McDonald. "Through its historical artifacts and cyberspace access, Computer History Museum will provide an important research tool for scientists in addition to building world-class exhibits in its outreach to Silicon Valley and throughout the world. I am pleased to welcome this important collaboration to the NASA Research Park."

About the Computer History Museum Center
Established in 1996 with the movement of artifacts from The Computer Museum, Boston, to Silicon Valley, Computer History Museum has become the foremost worldwide collector and presenter of information-age artifacts and stories, from the past and present through the imaginable future. A fully independent 501(c)(3) non-profit organization since 1999, Computer History Museum houses one of the world's largest and most comprehensive collections of computer-related artifacts including hardware, software, photos, films, videos, documents, t-shirts, buttons, and coffee mugs. Some of the items you will find among our over 2,000 objects include: a Hollerith census machine, a Cray-3 supercomputer, a WWII ENIGMA device, a see-through Palm Pilot; parts of MIT's Whirlwind computer, and a computer-generated Mona Lisa. Significant parts of the collection are housed in a "visible storage" collection area at Moffett Field, Mountain View, Calif. More information is available at: http://www.computerhistory.org.

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