Press Release

The Computer History Museum's 2009 Fellow Awards Nominations Are Now Open

Mountain View, California  |  November 20, 2008

The Computer History Museum (CHM), home to the largest international collection of computing artifacts in the world, today announced that it will begin accepting public nominations for its 2009 Fellow Awards. The Awards honor distinguished technology pioneers for their outstanding merits and significant contributions to both the advancement of computer history and to the evolution of the Information Age. The Award recipients will be inducted at a formal Gala Ceremony on Oct. 20, 2009, where leaders of the computing industry will assemble to celebrate the recipients joining the Museum’s prestigious Hall of Fellows.

Since 1987, the Fellow Awards have embodied the Computer History Museum’s vision to celebrate the computing revolution and its worldwide impact on the human experience. “The Fellow Awards are one of the most important dimensions of the Computer History Museum,” said John Hollar, the Computer History Museum’s President and CEO. “They illustrate the stories of computing’s heroes—the trailblazers who have made the technology revolution possible, and who have changed our lives forever. It’s a privilege for the Museum to recognize the work of these legends that have provided the world with such incredible innovation, and more importantly, with such an optimistic and hopeful future.”

The nominations will be collected and reviewed by an appointed Fellows Selection Committee, composed of a panel of respected computer industry luminaries chaired by Dr. Ike Nassi, a member of CHM’s Board of Trustees and Executive Vice President of SAP Labs. As the capstone of this process, the Fellows are inducted into CHM’s Hall of Fellows at the exclusive annual Gala. Nominations will close on Jan. 12, 2009 and the 2009 Gala will take place on Oct. 20.

The Computer History Museum recently celebrated the following 2008 Award recipients:

  • Jean Bartik – For pioneering work on programming the ENIAC computing system
  • Bob Metcalfe – For fundamental contributions in the invention, standardization, and commercialization of Ethernet
  • Linus Torvalds – For the creations of the Linux kernel and the management of open source development of the widely used Linux operating system


The 2008 Fellow Awards were generously sponsored by 3com, Bill & Roberta Campbell, Brian Pawlowski, Google, The Linux Foundation, SAP and other Silicon Valley individuals and corporations. To nominate a technology pioneer or for more information on the CHM Fellow Awards, please visit http://www.computerhistory.org/fellows or contact Fellows Nominations Chair, Cynthia Holladay at cholladay@uprightmarketing.com.

About the Computer History Museum

The Computer History Museum (CHM) in Mountain View, Calif., is a nonprofit organization with a four-decade history. The Museum is dedicated to the preservation and celebration of computing 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.

CHM brings computing history to life through an acclaimed speaker series, dynamic website, onsite tours, as well as physical and online exhibits. Current exhibits include “Charles Babbage’s Difference Engine No. 2,” “Mastering the Game: A History of Computer Chess,” “Innovation in the Valley” – a look at Silicon Valley startups – and the unique “Visible Storage Gallery,” featuring over 600 key objects from the collection. The signature “Timeline of Computing History” exhibit will open in late 2010. For more information, please visit www.computerhistory.org or call 650.810.1010.

Press Contacts:

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

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