[Peter Samson to be interviewed by Manhattan borough historian Michael Miscione, NYC Fri. 4/21 7pm.  Details below.  -Ken]

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THE GREAT SUBWAY RACE OF 1967

Fifty years ago an M.I.T. computer whiz kid named Peter Samson and a group of his schoolmates attempted one of the most audacious stunts in the history of the New York City subway system. Samson programmed M.I.T.'s PDP-6 mainframe computer -- about the size of a passenger elevator -- to calculate the most efficient route to ride the entire subway system in the least amount of time. In their outrageous attempt to break the existing riding record the team employed payphones, runners, and a teletype hook-up between a makeshift "data center" in midtown Manhattan and the mainframe in Cambridge, Mass. Michael Miscione, the Manhattan Borough Historian, will interview Samson and one of his schoolmates, George Mitchell, as they recount the Great Subway Race of 1967. Come and find out how it all played out.

Watch a 5-minute video preview: https://vimeo.com/212423979

Read an article about it in the New York Times: https://nyti.ms/2pDoukH

Samson’s subway racing experience, by the way, was a mere colorful blip in a much more substantive career. At M.I.T. he and his friends were the high priests of the school’s still-new computer lab – the original “hackers,” a term that originated in the lab. Their vision of computers as more than just business calculators laid the foundation for today's personal computer and video game era. They were the pioneers who would later move out west to inspire and teach the Bill Gateses, Steve Wozniaks, and Steve Jobses!

Do people today still try to break the subway riding record? Sure -- it makes the news every year or two. But now they carry their route-planning computers in their pocket.

THE GREAT SUBWAY RACE OF 1967

Friday, April 21 at 7:00p

Hunter College West Building

Lecture Hall HW615 (6th floor)

SW corner of 68 St. & Lexington Ave., Manhattan

Advance registration required

Free (or suggested donation: $15 + small fee)

RSVP: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-great-subway-race-of-1967-tickets-33530635032   

Questions? Email mmiscione@manhattanbp.nyc.gov 

Thanks to the following institutions for their generous support:

CUNY Institute for Sustainable Cities (CISC) at Hunter College

Hunter College Computer Science Department

Sam Schwartz Engineering

The General Society of Mechanics and Tradesmen of the City of New York

The New York Transit Museum

Freedean Tech

The Bowery Boys

Nerd Nite

Society for the Advancement of Social Studies (S.A.S.S.!)

ATX Nation