Milestone-Proposal:Special Citation Computer History Museum
Docket #:2014-05
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Is the achievement you are proposing more than 25 years old? Yes
Is the achievement you are proposing within IEEE’s fields of interest? (e.g. “the theory and practice of electrical, electronics, communications and computer engineering, as well as computer science, the allied branches of engineering and the related arts and sciences” – from the IEEE Constitution) Yes
Did the achievement provide a meaningful benefit for humanity? Yes
Was it of at least regional importance? Yes
Has an IEEE Organizational Unit agreed to pay for the milestone plaque(s)? Yes
Has an IEEE Organizational Unit agreed to arrange the dedication ceremony? Yes
Has the IEEE Section in which the milestone is located agreed to take responsibility for the plaque after it is dedicated? Yes
Has the owner of the site agreed to have it designated as an Electrical Engineering Milestone? Yes
Year or range of years in which the achievement occurred:
1979 to present
Title of the proposed milestone:
IEEE Special Citation Computer History Museum
Plaque citation summarizing the achievement and its significance:
In what IEEE section(s) does it reside?
Santa Clara Valley Section
IEEE Organizational Unit(s) which have agreed to sponsor the Milestone:
IEEE Organizational Unit(s) paying for milestone plaque(s):
Unit: Santa Clara Valley Section
Senior Officer Name: Senior officer name masked to public
IEEE Organizational Unit(s) arranging the dedication ceremony:
Unit: Santa Clara Valley Section
Senior Officer Name: Senior officer name masked to public
IEEE section(s) monitoring the plaque(s):
IEEE Section: Santa Clara Valley Section
IEEE Section Chair name: Section chair name masked to public
Milestone proposer(s):
Proposer name: Proposer's name masked to public
Proposer email: Proposer's email masked to public
Please note: your email address and contact information will be masked on the website for privacy reasons. Only IEEE History Center Staff will be able to view the email address.
Street address(es) and GPS coordinates of the intended milestone plaque site(s):
Computer History Museum 1401 N. Shoreline Blvd Mountain View, CA 94043
Describe briefly the intended site(s) of the milestone plaque(s). The intended site(s) must have a direct connection with the achievement (e.g. where developed, invented, tested, demonstrated, installed, or operated, etc.). A museum where a device or example of the technology is displayed, or the university where the inventor studied, are not, in themselves, sufficient connection for a milestone plaque.
Please give the address(es) of the plaque site(s) (GPS coordinates if you have them). Also please give the details of the mounting, i.e. on the outside of the building, in the ground floor entrance hall, on a plinth on the grounds, etc. If visitors to the plaque site will need to go through security, or make an appointment, please give the contact information visitors will need.
Computer History Museum Museum's corporate building
Are the original buildings extant?
not applicable
Details of the plaque mounting:
On the wall in the public lobby
How is the site protected/secured, and in what ways is it accessible to the public?
secured by wall mount.
The lobby is a public area which can be entered free of charge.
Who is the present owner of the site(s)?
Computer History Museum, a non-profit corporation
A letter in English, or with English translation, from the site owner(s) giving permission to place IEEE milestone plaque on the property:
A letter or email from the appropriate Section Chair supporting the Milestone application:
File:Minutes-SCVSection-2014-04-02-R1.pdf
What is the historical significance of the work (its technological, scientific, or social importance)?
The Computer History Museum captures the history of computers and computing. It displays computer articfacts. It also has operational exhibits such as the Babbage Machine and the IBM 1401. It's Revoluttion exhibit area is a time line of computer artifacts. Attending the museum is a learning experience for all age groups. For the younger generation, it influences them to become computer professionals.
What obstacles (technical, political, geographic) needed to be overcome?
The major obstacles to overcome is setting up a viable corporation, securing funding, development of the extensive facility. Futhermore, the museum provides education to the community through it's extensive events. Videos of it's ongoing "Revolutionaries" events are aired over PBS. Revolutionaries have aired interviews with our most notable computers technologists.
What features set this work apart from similar achievements?
It is the largest computer history museum in the world. Also it is an extremely active research facility for historians.
References to establish the dates, location, and importance of the achievement: Minimum of five (5), but as many as needed to support the milestone, such as patents, contemporary newspaper articles, journal articles, or citations to pages in scholarly books. At least one of the references must be from a scholarly book or journal article.
web url, Mission http://www.computerhistory.org/about/ web url,History (dates) http://www.computerhistory.org/chmhistory/ web url, over 50 Press Releases http://www.computerhistory.org/press/
Supporting materials (supported formats: GIF, JPEG, PNG, PDF, DOC): All supporting materials must be in English, or if not in English, accompanied by an English translation. You must supply the texts or excerpts themselves, not just the references. For documents that are copyright-encumbered, or which you do not have rights to post, email the documents themselves to ieee-history@ieee.org. Please see the Milestone Program Guidelines for more information.
