The American Computer & Robotics Museum (ACRM), formerly known as the American Computer Museum, is a museum of the history of computing,

communications Communication is commonly defined as the transmission of information. Its precise definition is disputed and there are disagreements about whether Intention, unintentional or failed transmissions are included and whether communication not onl ...

artificial intelligence Artificial intelligence (AI) is the capability of computer, computational systems to perform tasks typically associated with human intelligence, such as learning, reasoning, problem-solving, perception, and decision-making. It is a field of re ...

and

robotics Robotics is the interdisciplinary study and practice of the design, construction, operation, and use of robots. Within mechanical engineering, robotics is the design and construction of the physical structures of robots, while in computer s ...

that is located in Bozeman,

Montana Montana ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota to the east, South Dakota to the southeast, Wyoming to the south, an ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. The museum's mission is "... to explore the past and imagine the future of the Information Age through thought-provoking exhibits, innovative storytelling, and the bold exchange of ideas."American Computer and Robotics Museum Mission & Vision. Accessed July 23, 2021. https://acrmuseum.org/mission-vision.

History of the museum

The American Computer & Robotics Museum was founded by George and Barbara Keremedjiev as a

non-profit organization A nonprofit organization (NPO), also known as a nonbusiness entity, nonprofit institution, not-for-profit organization, or simply a nonprofit, is a non-governmental (private) legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public, or so ...

in May 1990 in

Bozeman, Montana Bozeman ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Gallatin County, Montana, United States. The 2020 United States census put Bozeman's population at 53,293, making it Montana's fourth-largest city. It is the principal city of the Bozeman, Montan ...

.American Computer and Robotics Museum. Accessed July 23, 2021. https://acrmuseum.org/. It is likely the oldest extant museum dedicated to the history of computers in the world."The Computer Museum". Computerhistory.org. Computer History Museum. Retrieved July 23, 2021. The museum's artifacts trace over 4,000 years of computing history and information technology.Balogh, Ray. “American Computer and Robotics Museum, Bozeman, Montana.” The Municipal. The Municipal, June 25, 2021. http://www.themunicipal.com/2021/06/american-computer-and-robotics-museum-bozeman-montana/. George Keremedjiev passed away in November 2018, but his wife Barbara, the Museum Board, and the museum's Executive Director continue working toward his goals to "collect, preserve, interpret, and display the artifacts and history of the information age."Publika, Liz. “The American Computer & Robotics Museum: Interview with Executive Director, Eleanor Barker.” ARTpublika Magazine. ARTpublika Magazine, July 9, 2020. https://www.artpublikamag.com/post/the-american-computer-robotics-museum-interview-with-executive-director-eleanor-barker.

Exhibits on display

The museum has several permanent exhibits on display. The Benchmarks of the Information Age provides an overview of information technology from roughly 1860 B.C.E. with the development of ancient writing systems up to 1976 C.E. with the Apple I personal computer. Another significant exhibit is the NASA Apollo program, including NASA artifacts on loan from the

National Air and Space Museum The National Air and Space Museum (NASM) of the Smithsonian Institution is a museum in Washington, D.C., in the United States, dedicated to history of aviation, human flight and space exploration. Established in 1946 as the National Air Museum, ...

, such as an

Apollo Guidance Computer The Apollo Guidance Computer (AGC) was a digital computer produced for the Apollo program that was installed on board each Apollo command module (CM) and Apollo Lunar Module (LM). The AGC provided computation and electronic interfaces for guidanc ...

and a watch worn on the Moon by Apollo 15 Commander David Scott, as well as the last surviving mainframe from the Apollo 11 mission, a

UNIVAC 418 The UNIVAC 418 was a transistorized computer made by Sperry Univac. It had 18-bit words and used magnetic-core memory. The name came from its 4-microsecond memory cycle time and 18-bit word. The assembly language for this class of computers was ...

-II. Another exhibit includes a comprehensive collection of early personal computers like the

Altair 8800 The Altair 8800 is a microcomputer introduced in 1974 by Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems (MITS) based on the Intel 8080 CPU. It was the first commercially successful personal computer. Interest in the Altair 8800 grew quickly after i ...

, IMSAI 8080,

Commodore PET The Commodore PET is a line of personal computers produced starting in 1977 by Commodore International. A single all-in-one case combines a MOS Technology 6502 microprocessor, Commodore BASIC in read-only memory, keyboard, monochrome monitor ...

Sol-20 The Sol-20 was the first fully assembled microcomputer with a built-in keyboard and television output, what would later be known as a home computer. The design was the integration of an Intel 8080-based motherboard, a VDM-1 graphics card, the 3 ...

Apple II Apple II ("apple Roman numerals, two", stylized as Apple ][) is a series of microcomputers manufactured by Apple Computer, Inc. from 1977 to 1993. The Apple II (original), original Apple II model, which gave the series its name, was designed ...

, Apple III, Apple Lisa, Macintosh 128K, Apple Macintosh, KIM-1, and SYM-1. The museum has several more exhibits detailing Enigma machine, Enigma codebreaking during World War II, neural computing and artificial intelligence, office and communications technology, robotics and automation with Hollywood artifacts, video games, and the future of computing with an eye toward quantum computing. The museum's current special exhibit is the Vintage Mac Museum, a private collection recently donated to the ACRM by the family of collector Adam Rosen.

Awards

In 1994 the American Computer Museum won the ''Dibner Award for Excellence in Museum Exhibits'' from the Society for the History of Technology.“The Dibner Award.” Society for the History of Technology (SHOT), May 1, 2021. https://www.historyoftechnology.org/about-us/awards-prizes-and-grants/the-dibner-award/. Beginning in 1997, The ''American Computer Museum'' has presented the Stibitz-Wilson awards with support from Montana State University. The George R. Stibitz Computer & Communications Innovator Award is named for Dr. George R. Stibitz, who built the first electric binary adding unit in 1937. The Edward O. Wilson Biodiversity Technology Innovator Award is named for Harvard Emeritus Professor Dr. Edward O. Wilson. In 2011, the museum formalized a new category of award called Lifetime Achievement.

Stibitz Award winners

* 1997 – Arthur Burks, Chuan Chu,

Jack Kilby Jack St. Clair Kilby (November 8, 1923 – June 20, 2005) was an American electrical engineer who took part, along with Robert Noyce of Fairchild Semiconductor, in the realization of the first integrated circuit while working at Texas Instrumen ...

, Jerry Merryman, James Van Tassel, Maury Irvine, Eldon Hall, Ted Hoff,

Federico Faggin Federico Faggin (, ; born 1 December 1941) is an Italian-American physicist, engineer, inventor and entrepreneur. He is best known for designing the first commercial microprocessor, the Intel 4004. He led the 4004 (MCS-4) project and the desig ...

* 1998 – Ed Roberts,

Doug Engelbart Douglas Carl Engelbart (January 30, 1925 – July 2, 2013) was an American engineer, inventor, and a pioneer in many aspects of computer science. He is best known for his work on founding the field of human–computer interaction, particularly ...

* 1999 – James Harris, Vinton G. Cerf,

Robert E. Kahn Robert Elliot Kahn (born December 23, 1938) is an American electrical engineer who, along with Vint Cerf, first proposed the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) and the Internet Protocol (IP), the fundamental communication protocols at the hear ...

* 2000 –

Steve Wozniak Stephen Gary Wozniak (; born August 11, 1950), also known by his nickname Woz, is an American technology entrepreneur, electrical engineer, computer programmer, philanthropist, and inventor. In 1976, he co-founded Apple Inc., Apple Computer with ...

Tim Berners-Lee Sir Timothy John Berners-Lee (born 8 June 1955), also known as TimBL, is an English computer scientist best known as the inventor of the World Wide Web, the HTML markup language, the URL system, and HTTP. He is a professorial research fellow a ...

, Ray Tomlinson * 2001 – Ted Hoff, Federico Faggin and Stan Mazor (together) * 2002 – Ralph Baer, Martin Cooper, Leroy Hood, Klein Gilhousen, James Russell, Jon Titus * 2005 –

Ross Perot Henry Ross Perot ( ; June 27, 1930 – July 9, 2019) was an American businessman, politician, and philanthropist. He was the founder and chief executive officer of Electronic Data Systems and Perot Systems. He ran an Independent politician ...

Paul Baran Paul Baran (born Pesach Baran ; April 29, 1926 – March 26, 2011) was a Polish-American engineer who was a pioneer in the development of computer networks. He was one of the two independent inventors of packet switching, which is today the do ...

, John Blankenbaker * 2006 – Edward O. Wilson * 2010 –

Barbara Liskov Barbara Liskov (born November 7, 1939, as Barbara Jane Huberman) is an American computer scientist who has made pioneering contributions to programming languages and distributed computing. Her notable work includes the introduction of abstract da ...

, Max Mathews, Steve Sasson * 2012 –

Robert Metcalfe Robert "Bob" Melancton Metcalfe (born April 7, 1946) is an American engineer and entrepreneur who contributed to the development of the internet in the 1970s. He co-invented Ethernet, co-founded 3Com, and formulated Metcalfe's law, which desc ...

, Vic Hayes * 2013 –

Walt Disney Walter Elias Disney ( ; December 5, 1901December 15, 1966) was an American animator, film producer, voice actor, and entrepreneur. A pioneer of the Golden age of American animation, American animation industry, he introduced several develop ...

(posthumously awarded), Chuck Hull,

John Henry Holland John Henry Holland (February 2, 1929 – August 9, 2015) was an American scientist and professor of electrical engineering and computer science at the University of Michigan. He was a pioneer in what became known as genetic algorithms. Biograph ...

, Jean B. Sweeney * 2014 – Eric Horvitz,

Douglas Hofstadter Douglas Richard Hofstadter (born 15 February 1945) is an American cognitive and computer scientist whose research includes concepts such as the sense of self in relation to the external world, consciousness, analogy-making, Strange loop, strange ...

, Hans Moravec,

Edward Feigenbaum Edward Albert Feigenbaum (born January 20, 1936) is a computer scientist working in the field of artificial intelligence, and joint winner of the 1994 ACM Turing Award. He is often called the "father of expert systems". Education and early life ...

, David Andes, Cynthia Breazeal * 2015 – David Ferrucci, Robert Gunderson * 2016 –

Alan Turing Alan Mathison Turing (; 23 June 1912 – 7 June 1954) was an English mathematician, computer scientist, logician, cryptanalyst, philosopher and theoretical biologist. He was highly influential in the development of theoretical computer ...

(posthumously awarded), Joseph Desch, Mary Shaw * 2017 –

Jennifer Doudna Jennifer Anne Doudna (; born February 19, 1964) is an American biochemist who has pioneered work in CRISPR gene editing, and made other fundamental contributions in biochemistry and genetics. She received the 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, wit ...

, Michelle Simmons, Mark Ritter, Rufus Cone, Jerry M. Chow, Jay GambettaMSU News Service. “Computer and Biology Pioneers to Be Honored Dec. 1 at MSU.” MSU News. Montana State University, November 13, 2017. https://www.montana.edu/news/17275. * 2018 – Donna Dubinsky, Bonnie J. DunbarMSU News Service. “Computer and Biology Pioneers to Be Honored Sept. 21 at MSU.” MSU News. Montana State University, September 5, 2018. https://www.montana.edu/news/17955/computer-and-biology-pioneers-to-be-honored-sept-21-at-msu.

Wilson Award winners

* 2009 – Ignacio Rodriguez-Iturbe, Steve Running, Michael Soulé, David Ward * 2010 – Sir Alec Jeffreys,

Lynn Margulis Lynn Margulis (born Lynn Petra Alexander; March 5, 1938 – November 22, 2011) was an American evolutionary biologist, and was the primary modern proponent for the significance of symbiogenesis, symbiosis in evolution. In particular, Margulis tr ...

, David Quammen * 2011 – Jim Lotimer, John Kress, Peter Belhumeur, David Jacobs * 2012 – Paul Anastas,

May Berenbaum May Roberta Berenbaum (born July 22, 1953) is an American entomologist, who is a professor of entomology at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Her research focuses on the chemical interactions between herbivorous insects and their host plan ...

, Gary Strobel * 2013 – Frans de Waal * 2014 – Rebecca D. Costa, Dorothy Hinshaw Patent, Cathy Whitlock, John Charles Priscu * 2015 –

Janine Benyus Janine M. Benyus (born 1958) is an American natural sciences writer, innovation consultant, and author. After writing books on wildlife and animal behavior, she coined the term Biomimicry to describe intentional problem-solving design inspired ...

, Kjetil Våge, Laurie Marker * 2016 – Dan Wenk * 2017 –

, John Heminway * 2018 – Diana Six, Andone C. Lavery, Bonnie J. Dunbar

Lifetime Achievement Award Winners

* 2011 –

* 2017 – Jonathan Titus

Stibitz-Wilson Awards

* 2022 - Paula Apsell, J. Craig Venter,

* 2023 - Sylvia Earle, Nature (TV program), Gregory L. Robinson * 2024 -

Maya Ajmera Maya Ajmera is the President and CEO of Society for Science and Executive Publisher of ''Science News''. Ajmera is the founder of Global Fund for Children, a nonprofit organization that invests philanthropic capital in innovative community-based ...

, Charles Limb, Dr. Russell Taylor, Irving Weissman * 2025 - Serge Belongie & Pietro Perona (together),

Lorrie Cranor Lorrie Faith Cranor is an American academic who is the FORE Systems Professor of Computer Science and Engineering and Public Policy at Carnegie Mellon University, Director and Bosch Distinguished Professor in Security and Privacy Technologies of ...

, Yasmin Kafai,

Mitchel Resnick Mitchel Resnick (born June 12, 1956) is an American computer scientist. He is the LEGO Papert Professor of Learning Research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Media Lab, and is the founder of Scratch. , Resnick serves as head ...

Collection

The ACRM's collection contains a wide variety of objects that span over 4,000 years of information technology history, beginning with a Babylonian cuneiform tablet dated to between 1860 and 1837 B.C.E. and a replica of the

Antikythera Mechanism The Antikythera mechanism ( , ) is an Ancient Greece, Ancient Greek hand-powered orrery (model of the Solar System). It is the oldest known example of an Analog computer, analogue computer. It could be used to predict astronomy, astronomical ...

, the earliest known geared mechanism, circa 80 B.C.E. The Antikythera Mechanism is an

ancient Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...

analog computer An analog computer or analogue computer is a type of computation machine (computer) that uses physical phenomena such as Electrical network, electrical, Mechanics, mechanical, or Hydraulics, hydraulic quantities behaving according to the math ...

and

orrery An orrery is a mechanical Solar System model, model of the Solar System that illustrates or predicts the relative positions and motions of the planets and natural satellite, moons, usually according to the heliocentric model. It may also represent ...

used to predict astronomical positions and eclipses for calendar and astrological purposes. The ACRM has a large collection of historical books, documents, and artifacts related to the history of computing, communications, and knowledge dating back to 1605, including original manuscripts by

Francis Bacon Francis Bacon, 1st Viscount St Alban (; 22 January 1561 – 9 April 1626) was an English philosopher and statesman who served as Attorney General and Lord Chancellor of England under King James I. Bacon argued for the importance of nat ...

and

René Descartes René Descartes ( , ; ; 31 March 1596 – 11 February 1650) was a French philosopher, scientist, and mathematician, widely considered a seminal figure in the emergence of modern philosophy and Modern science, science. Mathematics was paramou ...

and original copies of Newton's ''Principia'' & ''Opticks'' and Locke's ''Essay Concerning Human Understanding''. The museum also has a vast collection of early office technologies including mechanical adding machines like the

Arithmometer The arithmometer () was the first digital data, digital mechanical calculator strong and reliable enough to be used daily in an office environment. This calculator could add and subtract two numbers directly and perform Multiplication algorithm, ...

, electromechanical/electronic calculators (Friden, SCM, Monroe, Mathatron, Anita, Cal Tech (calculator), and Wang), telephones, telegraphs, typewriters, cash registers, and several telephone switchboards. It also holds an IBM 409 (relay-based tabulator) and a

IBM 604 The IBM 604 Electronic Calculating Punch was the world's first mass-produced electronic calculator along with its predecessor the IBM 603.

(vacuum tube calculator), mechanical adding machines, and a variety of slide rules. The museum also has military technology, including a Minuteman 1 Missile Guidance Computer and a Norden bombsight. The museum's collection also includes mechanical, electrical, and electronic toys, an industrial robot, and early consumer robots like Hubot. Additionally, the museum has a replica of the Model K, the first binary adder, built for the museum by its inventor, George R. Stibitz. Also, the ACRM holds many mainframe computers and associated hardware from the 1950s to 1990s including the

IBM 1620 Model II The IBM 1620 was a model of scientific minicomputer produced by IBM. It was announced on October 21, 1959, and was then marketed as an inexpensive scientific computer. After a total production of about two thousand machines, it was withdrawn on N ...

, the IBM

System/360 The IBM System/360 (S/360) is a family of mainframe computer systems announced by IBM on April 7, 1964, and delivered between 1965 and 1978. System/360 was the first family of computers designed to cover both commercial and scientific applicati ...

Model 20, the Burroughs 205,

PDP-8 The PDP-8 is a family of 12-bit minicomputers that was produced by Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC). It was the first commercially successful minicomputer, with over 50,000 units sold during the model's lifetime. Its basic design follows the pi ...

, PDP-8/ and the UNIVAC 1004. The museum also features a UNIVAC 418-II formerly used by NASA for telemetry data processing support for the

Apollo Apollo is one of the Twelve Olympians, Olympian deities in Ancient Greek religion, ancient Greek and Ancient Roman religion, Roman religion and Greek mythology, Greek and Roman mythology. Apollo has been recognized as a god of archery, mu ...

missions, including Apollo 11 in 1969, and later on in 1977 for the first

Space Shuttle The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially reusable launch system, reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated from 1981 to 2011 by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the Space Shuttle program. ...

Approach and Landing Tests The Approach and Landing Tests were a series of sixteen taxiing, taxi and flight trials of the prototype Space Shuttle Orbiter, Space Shuttle ''Space Shuttle Enterprise, Enterprise'' that took place between February and October 1977 to test the ...

(ALT) of the first Space Shuttle orbiter, the Enterprise, before NASA retired the system and donated it to the ACRM. The 418-II on exhibit at the museum is the last surviving mainframe computer used by NASA for the Apollo missions. Signed artifacts at the ACRM include an original

signed by Ed Roberts and an original

Apple I The Apple Computer 1 (Apple-1), later known predominantly as the Apple I, is an 8-bit personal computer designed by Steve Wozniak and released by the Apple Computer Company (now Apple Inc.) in 1976. The company was initially formed to ...

signed and donated by

. The museum also has an original January 1975 Popular Electronics Magazine announcing the Altair signed by Ed Roberts,

Bill Gates William Henry Gates III (born October 28, 1955) is an American businessman and philanthropist. A pioneer of the microcomputer revolution of the 1970s and 1980s, he co-founded the software company Microsoft in 1975 with his childhood friend ...

Paul Allen Paul Gardner Allen (January 21, 1953 – October 15, 2018) was an American businessman, computer programmer, and investor. He co-founded Microsoft, Microsoft Corporation with his childhood friend Bill Gates in 1975, which was followed by the ...

and

Monte Davidoff Monte Davidoff (; born 1956) is an American computer programmer. Davidoff is from Glendale, Wisconsin. He graduated from Nicolet High School in 1974, and went on to Harvard College, where he majored in applied mathematics, the department at Harv ...

References

External links

American Computer & Robotics Museum website
{{DEFAULTSORT:American Computer and Robotics Museum Museums established in 1990 Computer museums in the United States History museums in Montana Museums in Bozeman, Montana 1990 establishments in Montana Science museums in Montana