80th Anniversary Celebration of ENIAC on Sunday February 15, 2026 in West Chester, PA
Jim Sherrer of Compuseum shares this exciting news about an upcoming celebration of the 80th Anniversary Celebration of ENIAC on Sunday February 15, 2026 in West Chester, PA at the impressive helicopter museum there. He told me MARCH members are invited to attend in person or online! -bernieS *February 15th is the 80th Anniversary of the ENIAC of 1946. * We aim to give you a great celebration! Combination "In Person" and "Virtual" event. *Re: 80th Anniversary Celebration of ENIAC * American Helicopter Museum, West Chester, PA February 15th, 2026 (Sunday) Starting at museum open at 1PM (EST). Video Presentation goes two hours from 2PM-4PM (EST) in their Auditorium, Afterwards is 1 hour duration in person meet and greet. Museum closes at 5PM (EST). This is also a virtual/online/hybrid event on the Zoom Platform. Virtual Registration via Helicopter Museum web site here: https://www.helicoptermuseum.org/event-details/eniac-day-celebration Free online, $20 at door. *Event Title: ENIAC Founders, Families and Futures - 80 Years On * *SPEAKERS * Kickoff By Jim Scherrer, Compuseum, 4 minutes Kathy Kleiman - "Deep Dive Into Proving Ground People" Author- Proving Grounds; Purchase Book here: https://a.co/d/52qkpvl (Confirmed - In person or Virtual) Brian Stuart - "The ENIAC in Context" A deep technical dive into how the master programmer makes the ENIAC satisfy the criteria necessary for universality in the Turing sense and to clarify the relationship between Turing's work and that of Mauchly and Eckert. (Confirmed - In Person) Paul Ceruzzi- "Perspective on ENIAC, 80 years On" Author "A New History of Modern Computing" book along with Tom Haigh. Tom Burick - "How Today's High School Students built a full sized replica of ENIAC, from scratch!" IT Instructor, PS Academy, Arizona (Confirmed, Virtual) Bill Mauchly, "Recollections of My Dad" Bill is from First Family of Computing, on the 80th. - Son of John Mauchly and Kathleen "Kay" McNulty Mauchly (Confirmed, In Person) Chris Eckert: "Recollections of My Dad" First Family of Computing - Son of J. Presper Eckert (Confirmed, Virtual) Gini Mauchly; "How My Mom Programmed the first Computer" First Family of Computing - Daughter of John Mauchly and Kathleen "Kay" McNulty Mauchly (Confirmed, In Person) Naomi Most - "Did my IT career result from my DNA" Granddaughter of Kay McNulty (Confirmed, Virtual) Dr. Tim Bartik, "Recollections of My Mother". Son of Jean Jennings Bartik, 1st ENIAC Programmer (Confirmed, Virtual) Jeffrey Yost - "The ENIAC's Unveiling: Shaping Metaphors and Meanings in Computing" Director, Charles Babbage Institute for Computing, Information & Culture (Confirmed, In Person) Paul Shaffer- "How the ENIAC made Quadrotor Drones Possible; From Vacuum Tubes to Vertical Flight" ENIAC Historian at PENN- (Confirmed, In Person) Ken Chaney - "See PENN's Supercomputer" Associate Director and Technical Lead of the Betty Holberton Data Center - Visitors will see the Betty Holberton supercomputer at PENN (named after Betty Holberton, ENIAC programmer) https://parcc.upenn.edu/systems/betty/ (Confirmed, On Site) Show & Tell- "Audience Participation" Q&A session where audience members can show off their ENIAC equipment or memorabilia using the screen share option. If you have ENIAC equipment or memorabilia you'd like to "show off", please let us know in advance. Wrap Up Where are we going with computing? Thank you from: Jim Scherrer (Compuseum); Paul Kahan (Helicopter Museum) (Confirmed, In Person) SPEAKERS BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH Kathy Kleiman, Senior Fellow, Programs on Tech, Law & Security and Information Justice and Intellectual Property, American University Washington College of Law, Author of "Proving Ground," and Founder of the ENIAC Programmers Project. Twenty years of work at ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) to research the structure and balance of private Internet governance systems, privacy & Internet technologies. Brian Stuart, PhD is a professor of Computer Science at Drexel University. He hold a BS from the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, an MS from the University of Notre Dame, and a PhD from Purdue University. His primary research for the past ten years has been uncovering the details of the design, operation, and programming of the ENIAC. Bill Mauchly is the son of John W. Mauchly and Kathleen "Kay" McNulty, two pioneers whose work on ENIAC, UNIVAC, and early programming helped define the very foundations of modern computing. As part of the "first family of computers," Bill has carried forward that legacy through a career that bridges advanced technology, digital creativity, and the preservation of computing history. Tim Bartik, PhD is a senior economist at the Upjohn Institute for Employment Research, a non-profit and non-partisan research organization in Kalamazoo, Michigan. His research focuses on state and local economic development policies and local labor markets. At the Upjohn Institute, Dr. Bartik co-directs the Institute's research initiative on place-based policies. Tom Burick - Teacher at PS Academy in Gilbert, Arizona. PS Academy is a private high school for students with autism and other exceptionalities. which offers customized programs, clubs and electives, and ability-based learning with a focus on social skills improvement. Paul Ceruzzi is Curator Emeritus at the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum. He has published extensively on topics in the history of computing and aerospace. His most recent publications include "GPS: a Concise History," "Computing: A Concise History"--both part of MIT Press's Essential Knowledge Series, And, with Tom Haigh, "A New History of Modern Computing." Jeffrey R. Yost is Director, Charles Babbage Institute and Research Professor, History of Science, Technology, and Medicine, University of Minnesota. He has published nine books. His four most recent books are Just Code: Power, Inequality and the Political Economy of IT (co-edited with G. Con Diaz, JHU Press); Making IT Work: A History of the Computer Services Industry (MIT Press); Computer: A History of the Information Machine 4th ed. (co-authored, Routledge); and FastLane: Managing Science in the Internet World (co-authored with Tom Misa, JHU Press). He co-edits Studies in Computing Culture book series for Johns Hopkins University (JHU) Press. Paul Shaffer is the ENIAC Historian at the University of Pennsylvania, where he serves as a steward and interpreter of the world's first general-purpose electronic digital computer. He has spent more than three decades championing the ENIAC artifact - researching its history, preserving its story, and translating its technical significance. A helicopter pilot, Paul brings an aviator's perspective on systems, risk, and disciplined procedure to his work in technology and public history. He is also a commercial UAS (drone) instructor. Paul is known for making ENIAC both legible and vivid: not only as a landmark machine, but as a human achievement shaped by ingenuity, constraint, and collaboration. As ENIAC approaches its 80th anniversary in 2026, he continues to help ensure the machine's technical and cultural impact remains accurately understood, widely shared, and meaningfully remembered. REFERENCES & SUGGESTED READING A New History of Modern Computing: Co-Author Dr. Thomas Haigh and Paul Ceruzzi Purchase book here: https://a.co/d/esgXbCS. Proving Grounds; Author: Kathy Kleiman Purchase Book here: https://a.co/d/52qkpvl Computer: A History of the Information Machine. Link to Amazon: https://z.umn.edu/Computer_A_History DONATE TO COMPUSEUM TO HELP FUND THIS AND OTHER EVENTS. Help us make a splash for this 80th Anniversary with a monetary donation at the "Donate Now" button on the web site here: https://thecompuseum.org/home Special Note: This event is Coincident with Americas Semiquincentennial! (250th) Watch Here: https://www.britannica.com/video/how-to-pronounce-semiquincentennial-and-wha... Jim Scherrer, President and Founder *Compuseum, Inc.* Technology Center West Chester, PA 19382-6735 - USA Phone- 610-793-4600 www.theCompuseum.org Info@theCompuseum.org X/Twitter: @TheCompuseum Hashtags: #Compuseum #WorldComputerDay Sponsors of World Computer Day at https://worldcomputerday.org/ Sponsors of ENIAC Day at https://eniacday.org/
participants (1)
-
bernieS