Press Release

Historic IBM Watson Jeopardy Set Comes to the Computer History Museum

Mountain View, California  |  June 11, 2013

The Computer History Museum will hold a unique event on Tuesday, June 11, 2013. The evening will begin with an unveiling of the new IBM Watson exhibit featuring the original Jeopardy! stage set, with IBM’s Senior Vice President and Director of IBM Research, Dr. John Kelly and Museum President and CEO, John Hollar.

Following the unveiling, the CHM Revolutionaries series will present “An Evening with IBM Research’s Dr. John Kelly,” beginning at 7:00 p.m.  The conversation between Dr. Kelly and Mr. Hollar will include Watson two years after Jeopardy!, IBM’s  Africa Research Lab, its collaboration on the Cocoa Genome, and research in social, mobile, cloud and Big Data.

One theme for the event is captured in Dr. Kelly’s upcoming book, “Smart Machines: IBM’s Watson and the Era of Cognitive Computing,” and will be published in the fall by Columbia University Press. The first chapter is available for free at http://cup.columbia.edu/cognitive.

“The Jeopardy Challlenge was an historic milestone, but it was only a beginning,” said Dr. Kelly. “We are proud to collaborate with the Computer History Museum on this exhibit and to talk about what Watson is doing now with leading healthcare institutions and where we are going.  It’s a very exciting time.”

“Watson certainly made history and stunned the world by winning Jeopardy, but the implications of Watson and its capabilities are the fascinating story for the future,” Hollar said.  “We are honored to welcome Dr. John Kelly and to explore these ideas with him and to give our visitors the thrill of standing at the actual Jeopardy podium with Watson.

About the IBM Watson Exhibit

The IBM Watson Jeopardy! exhibit is based on the actual television set created for the world premiere Jeopardy! “human vs machine” championship in February of 2011.  The exhibit gives Museum visitors access to a unique photo opportunity in which they can pose as Jeopardy! contestants with IBM’s Watson. Additionally, engaging graphics and a visitor kiosk inform and entertain visitors with facts about this remarkable computing system and its future potential.

Museum visitors are encouraged to tweet their photos with Watson using hashtag #IBMWatson.

About the Computer History Museum

The Computer History Museum (CHM) in Mountain View, California is a nonprofit organization with a four-decade history as the world’s leading institution exploring the history of computing and its ongoing impact on society. The Museum is dedicated to the preservation and celebration of computer history and is home to the largest international collection of computing artifacts in the world, encompassing computer hardware, software, documentation, ephemera, photographs and moving images.

The Museum brings computer history to life through an acclaimed speaker series, dynamic website, docent-led tours as well as exhibits.  Current exhibits include “Charles Babbage's Difference Engine No. 2,” “and Going Places: Google Maps with Street View

The Museum’s signature exhibit on the history of computing, “Revolution: The First 2000 Years of Computing,” opened in January 2011.

For more information and updates, call (650) 810-1059, visit www.computerhistory.org, check us out on Facebook, and follow @computerhistory on Twitter.

Press Contacts

PR Team
pr@computerhistory.org
(650) 810-1059

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