The Museum of Computing in

Swindon Swindon () is a town in Wiltshire, England. At the time of the 2021 Census the population of the built-up area was 183,638, making it the largest settlement in the county. Located at the northeastern edge of the South West England region, Swi ...

, England (formally The Museum of Computing @ Swindon) is dedicated to preserving and displaying examples of early

computer A computer is a machine that can be Computer programming, programmed to automatically Execution (computing), carry out sequences of arithmetic or logical operations (''computation''). Modern digital electronic computers can perform generic set ...

s. It was the first United Kingdom museum exclusively dedicated to the

history of computing The history of computing is longer than the history of computing hardware and modern computing technology and includes the history of methods intended for pen and paper or for chalk and slate, with or without the aid of tables. Concrete devices ...

, and opened in February 2003.

Aims

The museum aims to preserve the history of computing, to be used as a valuable educational resource and as an information repository for historians, collectors and the media, and to illustrate this history in an entertaining way.

Exhibits

The museum includes working machines and interactive activities. The exhibitions have included the ''

Pong ''Pong'' is a 1972 sports video game developed and published by Atari for arcades. It is one of the earliest arcade video games; it was created by Allan Alcorn as a training exercise assigned to him by Atari co-founder Nolan Bushnell, but B ...

PlayStation is a video gaming brand owned and produced by Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE), a division of Japanese conglomerate Sony. Its flagship products consists of a series of home video game consoles produced under the brand; it also consists ...

'' exhibition. More than thirty computers were lent to Gordon Laing, a former editor of ''

Personal Computer World ''Personal Computer World'' (''PCW'') (February 1978 - June 2009) was the first British computer magazine. Although for at least the last decade it contained a high proportion of Windows PC content (reflecting the state of the IT field), the m ...

'' magazine, in connection with the writing of his 2004 book '' Digital Retro''.

Notable events

The exhibition "''Calculators from the Abacus to the Microchip''", was launched by Sir Clive Sinclair in March 2006. In April 2007, the museum was honoured by a visit from

Prince Edward, Duke of Kent Prince Edward, Duke of Kent (Edward George Nicholas Paul Patrick; born 9 October 1935) is a member of the British royal family. The elder son of Prince George, Duke of Kent, and Princess Marina of Greece and Denmark, he is a grandson of George ...

, patron of the

British Computer Society image:Maurice Vincent Wilkes 1980 (3).jpg, Sir Maurice Wilkes served as the first President of BCS in 1957. The British Computer Society (BCS), branded BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT, since 2009, is a professional body and a learned ...

. The museum moved to 6–7 Theatre Square in July 2009, between the library and the theatre. In May 2010, the museum celebrated the 30th anniversary of the video game

Pac-Man ''Pac-Man,'' originally called in Japan, is a 1980 maze video game developed and published by Namco for arcades. In North America, the game was released by Midway Manufacturing as part of its licensing agreement with Namco America. The pla ...

with a real life Pac-Man game and a special exhibition at the museum all day. In March 2011, the 'Gaming on the Go' exhibition celebrated 35 years of the handheld games console.

Structure

The Museum of Computing is a not-for-profit organisation, largely run by volunteers. In 2022, the company had one employee and one director, Jeremy Holt.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Buildings and structures in Swindon Computer museums in the United Kingdom Museums established in 2003

Computing Computing is any goal-oriented activity requiring, benefiting from, or creating computer, computing machinery. It includes the study and experimentation of algorithmic processes, and the development of both computer hardware, hardware and softw ...