The Museum of Computing in Swindon,

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

is dedicated to preserving and displaying examples of early computers. It was the first

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

museum A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make thes ...

exclusively dedicated to the

history of computing The history of computing is longer than the history of computing hardware and modern computing technology and includes the history of methods intended for pen and paper or for chalk and slate, with or without the aid of tables. Concrete devices ...

and opened in February 2003.

Aims

It aims to preserve the history of computing, to be used as a valuable educational resource and as an information repository for historians, collectors and the media, and to illustrate this history in an entertaining way.

Exhibits

The Museum includes working machines and interactive activities. The exhibitions have included the ''

Pong ''Pong'' is a table tennis–themed twitch arcade sports video game, featuring simple two-dimensional graphics, manufactured by Atari and originally released in 1972. It was one of the earliest arcade video games; it was created by Allan Al ...

to PlayStation'' exhibition. More than thirty computers were lent to Gordon Laing, a former editor of ''

Personal Computer World ''Personal Computer World'' (''PCW'') (February 1978 - June 2009) was the first British computer magazine. Although for at least the last decade it contained a high proportion of Windows PC content (reflecting the state of the IT field), the mag ...

'' magazine, in connection with the writing of his 2004 book '' Digital Retro''.

Notable events

The exhibition "''Calculators from the Abacus to the Microchip''", was launched by Sir Clive Sinclair in March 2006. In April 2007, the Museum was honoured by a visit from HRH

Prince Edward, Duke of Kent Prince Edward, Duke of Kent, (Edward George Nicholas Paul Patrick; born 9 October 1935) is a member of the British royal family. Queen Elizabeth II and Edward were first cousins through their fathers, King George VI, and Prince George, Duke ...

, patron of the British Computer Society. The Museum moved to 6–7 Theatre Square in July 2009, between the library and the theatre. In May 2010, the Museum celebrated the 30th anniversary of the video game Pac-Man with a real life Pac-Man game and special exhibition at the museum all day.Swindon celebrates Pac-Man's 30th anniversarySwindon Web
22 May 2010. March 2011, 'Gaming on the Go' exhibition, 35 years of the handheld games console.

Administration

The Museum of Computing is a not-for-profit organisation, run by a team of dedicated volunteers.

Supporters

The Museum is supported by the following organisations
BCS Wiltshire Branch

References

{{reflist

External links

Museum of Computing website
Museum of Computing Computer museums Computer museums in the United Kingdom Museums established in 2003 Museums in Wiltshire Science museums in England