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UNC honors computer’s past

DTH/Kristin Long
DTH/Kristin Long

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In the 1950s, people were barely starting to imagine computers, let alone all the technologies that would come with them.

But today these technologies are integral to the way people teach, learn and run the campus.

In 1951, UNC began planning for the acquisition of a high-speed computer, which it installed in August 1959 as one of the first major computing systems in the state. It dedicated its first UNC Computation Center the next year.



Fifty years later, the University is looking back and celebrating the history of computing at UNC.

“The truth is that in this tech environment we don’t spend so much time celebrating the past,” said Larry Conrad, vice chancellor for information and technology and chief information officer.

ATTEND THE PANEL DISCUSSION ON COMPUTING AT UNC

Time: 2 p.m. today
Location: Nelson Mandela Auditorium at the FedEx Global Education Center.
Info: http://bit.ly/computingatunc

“Everyone’s so focused on what’s the newest Apple gadget. It seemed like a really good idea to look back for once and celebrate the idea that we’ve come a long way in 50 years.”

The first computer at UNC was the Univac 1105, installed in the basement of Phillips Hall. It was roughly 64,000 pounds, had 7,200 vacuum tubes and was 60 feet long. And it had memory capacity of only 50 kilobytes, about the amount of space that a one-page scanned Microsoft Word document takes today, Conrad said.

A celebration today will feature a short video, a keynote address by Dr. Frederick Brooks, a distinguished professor in the Department of Computer Science, and a panel discussion about modern uses of technology.

The panel includes faculty members in chemistry and medicine, Nobel prize winner Oliver Smithies and the chairman of Zenph Sound Innovations, a company that transforms music into data.

“It’s a modest little to-do,” Conrad said, “but a great opportunity for the campus to pause and think for a second about how far this stuff has come.”



Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu.

 

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