Vintage Computer Chip Collectibles, Memorabilia & Jewelry


​
MIT lincoln labs
MIT Lincoln Lab Memorabilia
MIT Computer
MIT Computer Memorabilia
Organization: MIT Lincoln Laboratory
Based: Lexington, Massachusetts, USA
Founded:
1949 (established to develop an air defense system for the U.S.)
Founder:  George Valley formed a committee of 7 other scientists (including Jay Forrester) & the U.S. Air Force.
Specialty: Pioneering advanced electronics in air defense systems. Sage air-defense computer system development. Developed the "Whirlwind" computer - a first generation vacuum tube computer.

whirlwind computer
Jay Forrester with the MIT Whirlwind Computer (1951)

​

 

​MIT Whirlwind First Generation Computer Artifact (1946)

Whirlwind computer paperweight
sold
 
MIT's Whirlwind Computer was a First Generation Vacuum Tube computer. The Whirlwind contained 12,500 vacuum tubes, 23,803 crystal rectifiers and 1,800 relays. Development of the Whirlwind computer began in 1946, and the system was first demonstrated on April 20th, 1951. The MIT lab placed Jay Forrester, the inventor of magnetic core memory, in charge of the project.

Whirlwind was the first computer capable of displaying real time text and graphics on a video terminal, which at this time was a large oscilloscope screen. The Whirlwind was also the first computer to use Core Memory for RAM which stores binary data on tiny doughnut shaped magnets strung together by a wire grid.

The Whirlwind computer was ultimately adopted by the U.S. Air Force for use in the SAGE (Semi-Automatic Ground Environment) air defense system, which became operational in 1958 with more advanced display capabilities. RCA applied for the contract to manufacture SAGE but it ultimately was awarded to IBM. The last of the Whirlwind-based SAGE computers was shut down in 1983, giving the Whirlwind a record for practical operational longevity among digital computers. The Cape Cod Project which used the Whirlwind for an advanced warning system was developed at MIT's Lincoln Labs.


Whirlwind ComputerWhirlwind Computer exhibit, Computer History Museum, Mountain View CA. (2018)
These Limited edition Lucite paperweights had a unique piece of the Whirlwind Computer embedded inside each one and were distributed as mementos on June 30th 2009  at a reunion of the original Whirlwind project team members at the LeMeriden Hotel, Cambridge, MA (formerly the Hotel at MIT).  This was the 50th anniversary of the last day of operation of this historic computer. About 50 Whirlwind project team members were present for the reunion, including Jay Forrester and Bob Everett. The President of M.I.T. Susan Hockfield spoke to the group.

This particular paperweight features a resistor hand soldered between two terminals and was sectioned from a larger piece of one of the Whirlwind Computer's Circuit Boards.

​


MIT Whirlwind computer
Resistor soldered to Whirlwind I PCB Board Terminals
MIT whirlwind computer
 


Computer Vacuum Tubes
A few of the Whirlwind's 5000 Vacuum Tubes
 
whirlwind computer
MIT's Whirlwind 1 Computer System (1951)
sage computer
Whirlwind I SAGE computer displaying aircraft positions (1953)


 
  Project Whirlwind MIT Archives                          
History of MIT's Lincoln Labs


Whirlwind Computer Team Members Reunion 2009




VIDEO: Jay Forrester shows CBS the MIT Whirlwind Computer (1951)

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

​

Explore our collection of memorabilia from the world's leading Electronics & Semiconductor Companies​​


Applied Digital    Abbott    AKAI    AMD    ​Amdahl    Ampex    AMS    Analog Devices    Apple    Applied Materials    Atari    ATI    AT&T

Bell Labs
    Bosch    Burroughs    CBS - HYTRON    Cisco    ​Canon    Cincinnati Milacron    Control Data    Cray    Cyrix    Digital Angel

​Data General
    Data Terminal Systems    DEC    Delco    Destron Fearing    Elbit    EMR    ESI    Fairchild    Fastcomm    Ferranti    Ford

Freescale    ​Fujitsu    GE
    General Instrument    GM    GTE    Hitachi    Honeywell    HP    Hughes    Hybrid Systems    Hyundai    ​IBM

Intel    Interdesign
    ITT    Kyocera    Lear Siegler    Lucid    Memorex    ​Micron    Microsoft    ​Microvision    MIPS    MIT    Mitsubishi

Motorola
    NAPA ECHLIN    National Semiconductor    NCR    ​NEC    Nintendo    NTK​    NMBS    NorthStar Computers    NVIDIA

OKI Electric
    Pacific Semi    ​Panasonic    PHILCO    Philips    Pixim    Polestar    Precision Monolithics    Ramtron    Raytheon    RCA

Remington Rand    Samsung    Seeq    ​Siemens    SGS - Thomson    Sharp    Signetics    Smith - Corona Marchant    Sony

SpaceX    ​Sperry    Storage Technology    STMicroelectronics    Sun Microsystems    Sylvania Electric    Tandem Computers

Tesla    Texas Instruments    Teledyne    Toshiba    Tung - Sol    TSMC    United Technologies    Unitrode    UNIVAC    VeriChip

Volvo    VLSI    Wavesat    Western Electric    Westinghouse    WYSE    Etc.

​
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________



​Home     Ebay store      Contact Us      About Us      See Us      Collectors Resources        Technology Timeline        Link to Us       Terms / Privacy       Site Map         Advertise


​ 

© 2024 ChipsEtc.com. All Rights Reserved. Other product and company names shown may be trademarks of their respective owners. 
​