Museum of Computing
Encyclopedia
The Museum of Computing in Swindon
, England
is dedicated to preserving and displaying examples of early computer
s. It was the first United Kingdom
museum
exclusively dedicated to the history of computing
and opened in February 2003.
to PlayStation
exhibition.
In April 2007, the Museum was honoured by a visit from HRH Prince Edward, Duke of Kent
, patron of the British Computer Society
.
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
with a real life Pac-Man game and special exhibition at the museum all day.
March 2011, 'Gaming on the Go' exhibition, 35 years of the handheld games console.
Swindon
Swindon is a large town within the borough of Swindon and ceremonial county of Wiltshire, in South West England. It is midway between Bristol, west and Reading, east. London is east...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
is dedicated to preserving and displaying examples of early computer
Computer
A computer is a programmable machine designed to sequentially and automatically carry out a sequence of arithmetic or logical operations. The particular sequence of operations can be changed readily, allowing the computer to solve more than one kind of problem...
s. It was the first United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
museum
Museum
A museum is an institution that cares for a collection of artifacts and other objects of scientific, artistic, cultural, or historical importance and makes them available for public viewing through exhibits that may be permanent or temporary. Most large museums are located in major cities...
exclusively dedicated to the history of computing
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...
and opened in February 2003.
Aims
It 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 PongPong
Pong is one of the earliest arcade video games, and is a tennis sports game featuring simple two-dimensional graphics. While other arcade video games such as Computer Space came before it, Pong was one of the first video games to reach mainstream popularity...
to PlayStation
PlayStation
The is a 32-bit fifth-generation video game console first released by Sony Computer Entertainment in Japan on December 3, .The PlayStation was the first of the PlayStation series of consoles and handheld game devices. The PlayStation 2 was the console's successor in 2000...
exhibition.
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 HRH Prince Edward, Duke of Kent
Prince Edward, Duke of Kent
The Duke of Kent graduated from the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst on 29 July 1955 as a Second Lieutenant in the Royal Scots Greys, the beginning of a military career that would last over 20 years. He was promoted to captain on 29 July 1961. The Duke of Kent saw service in Hong Kong from 1962–63...
, patron of the British Computer Society
British Computer Society
The British Computer Society, is a professional body and a learned society that represents those working in Information Technology in the United Kingdom and internationally...
.
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
is an arcade game developed by Namco and licensed for distribution in the United States by Midway, first released in Japan on May 22, 1980. Immensely popular from its original release to the present day, Pac-Man is considered one of the classics of the medium, virtually synonymous with video games,...
with a real life Pac-Man game and special exhibition at the museum all day.
March 2011, 'Gaming on the Go' exhibition, 35 years of the handheld games console.
Sponsors
The Museum is sponsored by the following organisations- Intel
- Clarke Holt Commercial Solicitors
- PC Teach
- AlphaGalileo
- Silent-G Design
- Dennis's removals and storage