Technology Exhibit Set to Open New Ken Olsen Science Center at Gordon College
(NewDesignWorld Press Release Center) -- April 10, 2008, Wenham, MA -- Anticipating the Fall 2008 opening of the new Ken Olsen Science Center at Gordon College in Wenham, MA, the design team is working on exhibits featuring the human story behind the technological revolution of the 20th century.
Three museum-style exhibits in the new Ken Olsen Science Center's lobby - featuring technological artifacts, images and manuscripts - will highlight the themes of Ken Olsen's life and legacy, the technology of Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) and the philosophy and distinguishing business practices of DEC.
While some of the pieces in the archives "aren't exactly eye candy," as one former DEC employee said, a closer look reveals that these sometimes-obscure pieces of metal point to the very human story of the technological revolution of the 20th century. For example, while core memory may seem like a confusing abacus to anyone other than a computer engineer, it tells the story of the concept behind computers as we know them today.
While in graduate school at MIT, Olsen worked in the Lincoln Labs on Project Whirlwind with Professors Jay Forrester and Bob Everett. Initially the objective of the project was to simulate and analyze flight functions. As it developed, the team needed a way to store and process information more efficiently. They created what came to be known as magnetic core memory, a precursor to today's RAM (random access memory). Core memory provided the basis for interactive computers, allowing Olsen to create his company--thus affecting generations of people, including former Microsoft CEO Bill Gates, who used a DEC computer for the first time when he was 13.
One letter, addressed to Olsen from David Lee Fortune, thanks Olsen for his "dedication, first to the Lord, second to quality equipment, and third, to helping in the worldwide missionary movement with [his] wonderful machines." There are countless other letters of thanks and admiration in the archives from employees, friends and customers - all of which serve to give the intimidating wires, transistors and vacuum tubes a human face.
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Gordon College is a nationally ranked four-year, nondenominational Christian liberal arts college on Boston’s North Shore. The college offers 36 majors in the liberal arts and sciences. It also offers graduate programs in education and music education. In recent years, Gordon has won national recognition for its scholastic excellence, the high caliber of its faculty and its role in character building. For more information, visit http://www.gordon.edu or http://www.gordon.edu/admissions
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MEDIA CONTACT:
Cyndi McMahon
Office of College Communications
Gordon College
1-978-867-4236
gordon@mcdougallinteractive.com
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