Computer History Museum

<p>Silicon Valley is known worldwide as the global center of high tech innovation. In large part, the spark that ignited Silicon Valley's explosive growth can be traced back to a 50 year-old dispute that occurred in the building at 391 San Antonio Road, Mountain View, California. In the 1950s William Shockley was considered a "God" in the electronics world. He led the Bell Labs team that invented the transistor in 1948. With funding from Arnold Beckman -- a wealthy scientist-businessman -- Shockley established the Shockley Semiconductor Laboratory in 1955. Shockley went against Beckman's recommendation to set up in southern California, near Beckman's own company, and established the lab in a former Quonset hut at 391 San Antonio. Shockley's disruptive management style eventually forced eight of his young scientists to approach Arnold Beckman directly in an attempt to remove Shockley from day-to-day management. When their bid fails, the group feels they have burned their bridges and must find alternative employment. Through an East Coast banker, the scientists are introduced to Sherman Fairchild, a New York industrialist. He is intrigued by the potential of silicon transistors and agrees to support the group with an investment of $1.3 million to start a new company called Fairchild Semiconductor. In Silicon Valley lore, the dissenting scientists became known as the Traitorous Eight - some of whom went on to bigger and better things. Bob Noyce and Gordon Moore founded Intel in 1968, now the world's largest chipmaker. More than 400 electronics, computer and chip companies in Silicon Valley can trace their genealogy back to the Shockley Semiconductor Laboratory at 391 San Antonio Road. Through interviews with historians and surviving former employees of Shockley Labs, filmmaker Craig Addison recounts the events that indirectly led to the explosive growth of Silicon Valley. The Computer History Museum thanks Craig Addison for making this film available.</p>

Type
Moving Image
Format
MOV
Catalogue number
102792098
391 San Antonio Rd. —A Semiconductor Documentary

Rough cut II

Type
Moving Image
Format
VHS
Catalogue number
102630509

Type
Moving Image
Format
VHS
Catalogue number
102639845

Video illustrating the development of computers and their impact on society.

Type
Moving Image
Format
Betacam SP
Catalogue number
102639850

Type
Moving Image
Format
Betacam SP
Catalogue number
102639852

This humorous promotional film for the Remington Rand UNIVAC computer features J. Presper Eckert and John Mauchly in leading roles. Produced in 1960, the film outlines the earlier history of computing leading to the development and application of the UNIVAC computer. J. Presper Eckert and John Mauchly, the major figures in the creation of the ENIAC computer, left the University of Pennsylvania's Moore School of Engineering at the end of WWII to found their own firm. They had hoped to be the first to exploit the new concept of the electronic stored program computer, but were hampered by a lack of funds and, to some extent, by the bureaucracy surrounding their only major customer, the Census Bureau. They sought other investors but never had enough to properly complete their projects. They eventually sold their business to Remington Rand (later Sperry Rand) who incorporated it as the UNIVAC division of the company. Eckert remained with UNIVAC all his life but Mauchly left after a few years to become a private consultant. Remington Rand's Univac Division produced some of the earliest commercially available machines ahead of more famous firms such as IBM. The large management structure of the company often frustrated their engineers, many of whom left to found other very influential computer firms (e.g. Control Data Corporation). This bureaucracy is thought by many (including their Vice President, J. Presper Eckert) to have eventually limited their ability to take advantage of rapidly changing technology and to lose the lead to other firms such as IBM. In 1955 the Sperry Corporation and Remington Rand merged forming Sperry Rand. Sperry Rand then eventually merged with Burroughs to from Unisys and is still in business.

Type
Moving Image
Format
Betacam SP
Catalogue number
102639862

Type
Moving Image
Format
VHS
Catalogue number
102639865

Type
Moving Image
Format
Betacam SP
Catalogue number
102639868

This is a color moving image with audio. From abstract: "Introduced in 1959, the DEC PDP-1 computer is truly the mouse that roared, a powerful, easy-to-operate computer with a host of new abilities that allowed its users to interact with a computer all to themselves. This was a novelty in the early 1960s when mainframe-based batch processing was the norm and the idea of a computer dedicated to a single-user was heretical, akin to having a personal aircraft carrier. Our panel comprises key figures in the development and use of the PDP-1. Moderated by computer science legend Dr. Ed Fredkin, panelists will explore the creation and impact of this unique machine and how most of its features, functionality and DEC’s philosophy of interactive computing were eventually adopted by other companies years later."

Type
Moving Image
Format
DVCAM
Catalogue number
102654189

This is a color moving image with audio. From abstract: "Introduced in 1959, the DEC PDP-1 computer is truly the mouse that roared, a powerful, easy-to-operate computer with a host of new abilities that allowed its users to interact with a computer all to themselves. This was a novelty in the early 1960s when mainframe-based batch processing was the norm and the idea of a computer dedicated to a single-user was heretical, akin to having a personal aircraft carrier. Our panel comprises key figures in the development and use of the PDP-1. Moderated by computer science legend Dr. Ed Fredkin, panelists will explore the creation and impact of this unique machine and how most of its features, functionality and DEC’s philosophy of interactive computing were eventually adopted by other companies years later."

Type
Moving Image
Format
Mini-DV
Catalogue number
102695087

Film produced by the Laboratory Communications Systems Development Division of IBM illustrating the features of the IBM Sharing System (TSS/360). The film is color.

Type
Moving Image
Format
16mm Film
Catalogue number
102780977