Museum of Mathematics and Computer Science

The quote from the father of computer science, Alan Turing, introduces us to the path that will show the evolution of the "thinking machine" starting from the computer for ballistic calculations and decryption. There is no Nobel Prize for computer science but there is a prize Turing of equal prestige. The film "The Imitation Games" tells how it all began and highlights the contribution that Turing made to the development of artificial intelligence.

The computers of the 1970s were not really "personal", although there had already been the first attempts to produce them. In the '70s the so-called "mini computers" were "mini" when compared to the huge computers of the' 50s that occupied walls and rooms, these occupied "only" one door of a wardrobe, like the example of Digital PDP shown in photo. Subsequent computers that could be placed on a table were called "micro" like the Olivetti P6060.

At the beginning, the data is entered through levers and the result is expressed by the switching on and off of lights. Punch cards replace the levers. Each card corresponds to an instruction encoded by a sequence of holes made by the card punch. Complex instructions require numerous cards. Having to change only a part of an instruction sequence, only a few cards will need to be changed.

The evolution of the terminal is the video terminal, that is, a terminal with a monitor. To the left of the PDPs you can see the VT100 from Digital, perhaps the most famous terminal in history. The data is saved on large magnetic disks (the white cylindrical containers above the PDP) that fit into the appropriate drawer. Years later these discs still work!

The evolution of the terminal is the video terminal, that is, a terminal with a monitor. To the left of the PDPs you can see the VT100 from Digital, perhaps the most famous terminal in history. The data is saved on large magnetic disks (the white cylindrical containers above the PDP) that fit into the appropriate drawer. Years later these discs still work!

The "mouse" was also born in the 60s but then it will be lost and forgotten until 1984. This is a reproduction of the first mouse built by prof. Engelbart, a Stanford lecturer who needed a pointer for videoconferencing. It was made of wood, a material that is easy to find and model and was also much larger than the mice we are used to because it housed two wheels: one for vertical scrolling and the other for horizontal scrolling.