4 May 2005
Monash University's first computer, the 43-year-old Ferranti Sirius, will form the centrepiece of a new museum chronicling the history of computing.
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| Museum Director Ms Judy Sheard with Monash University's first computer, the 43-year-old Ferranti Sirius. |
The museum, which will be launched by the Minister for Information and Communication Technology Ms Marsha Thomson, and Museum Victoria chief executive officer Dr Patrick Green at Monash's Caulfield campus on Wednesday 11 May, features four showcases chronicling computer development in Victoria .
As well as the Ferranti Sirius, it has a Mini computer PDP9, the same model as that used at the Parkes Observatory during the moon landing in 1969 and the actual machine that was used in the Australian film The Dish , and a millionaire calculator -- an early model mechanical calculator from the early 1900s which was one of the first calculators to perform multiplication rapidly.
The museum also features a chronology of computer usage and explores how technology has developed from the 1950s. It explores the impact computer technology has had on everyday life and how our usage of it has changed.
The Ferranti Sirius cost the university 25,000 pounds and was one of only four such models brought into Australia. It is the only one of its kind on display.
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| A Mini computer PDP9, the same model as that used at the Parkes Observatory during the moon landing in 1969 and the actual machine that was used in the Australian film The Dish. |
It was first housed in the mathematics department at Monash's Clayton campus and was the university's only computer until the mid 1960s. The Ferranti Sirius was used by industry groups near the campus which had no other access to computers.
It was last used in the mid 1970s and was moved to Caulfield after the merger between Monash and the Chisholm Institute of Technology in 1990.
The museum is open from 9am to 5pm Monday to Friday.
What: Official opening of Monash Museum of Computing History
Where: B Block, Level 2, Monash University Caulfield Campus
When: 5.30 to 7pm , Wednesday 11 May
For further information, contact Ms Diane Squires on 9905 9315 or 0417 603 400.
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