[ih] Fwd: [vcf-midatlantic at lists.vcfed.org: [vcf-midatlantic] ENIAC 80 celebration live! this Sunday (Feb. 15)]

Tue Feb 10 07:08:34 PST 2026

----- Forwarded message from Jeffrey Brace via vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic at lists.vcfed.org> -----

> From: Jeffrey Brace via vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic at lists.vcfed.org>
> Date: Tue, 10 Feb 2026 09:15:50 -0500
> Cc: Jeffrey Brace <jeffrey at vcfed.org>
> Subject: [vcf-midatlantic] ENIAC 80 celebration live! this Sunday (Feb. 15)
> 
> I'm driving to this event. Is anyone else going?
> 
> Info (Copied from the ENIACtion Newsletter):
> 
> 
> *80th Anniversary Celebration of ENIACAmerican Helicopter Museum, West
> Chester, PAFebruary 15th, 2026  (Sunday) *
> Starting at museum open at 1PM (EST).
> Video Presentation runs two hours from 2PM-4PM (EST) in the museum
> Auditorium,
> Afterwards is 1 hour duration meet and greet.
> Museum closes at 5PM (EST).
> This is also a virtual/online/hybrid event on the Zoom Platform.
> Invitations via Helicopter Museum and Compuseum
> 
> Sign Up Here:
> https://www.helicoptermuseum.org/event-details/eniac-day-celebration
> 
> $20 per person for Museum Entry. Zoom attendees no charge, Registration
> Required.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> *Event Title: ENIAC Founders, Families and Futures - 80 Years
> OnPresentation on Zoom and in AuditoriumKickoff By:*
> Paul Kahan (CEO- Helicopter Museum) 2 minutes
> 
> Jim Scherrer (CEO- Compuseum) 2 minutes
> 
> 
> Keynote - Kathy Kleiman - "The Incredible People of the ENIAC Team:  Why We
> Still Celebrate Them 80 Years Later."  A Deep Dive Into Proving Ground
> People by Author-  "Proving Grounds; The Untold Story of the Six Women Who
> Programmed the World's First Modern Computer." Purchase Book here:
> https://a.co/d/0eu2p78z   (Confirmed - In person)
> 
> 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. (Confirmed Virtual)
> 
> 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 -  "Giant Brain Takes Over the World" the story we can never
> let go of.  Bill is from First Family of Computing - 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 -  "What Kay McNulty would Tell you about How to Be
> Successful."  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" with Associate Director of AI and
> Technology for PARCC at 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 Thank you from -  Jim Scherrer (Compuseum); Paul Kahan (Helicopter
> Museum)
> 
> 
> 1 hour cake party at museum (4-5PM) then after-party.
> 
> *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. If you loved Hidden Figures or The Rise of the Rocket Girls,
> you'll love Kleimans' breakthrough book on the women who brought you the
> computer age--written out of history, until now.  Purchase Book here:
> https://a.co/d/0eu2p78z
> 
> 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. Thomas Burick is a
> technology educator and lifelong builder who led a student team in
> reconstructing ENIAC at full scale, using the world???s first electronic
> computer as a hands-on lesson in precision, repetition, and large-scale
> engineering.
> 
> 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/0ighKnFX
> Proving Grounds; Author: Kathy Kleiman - Purchase Book here:
> https://a.co/d/01pSFoIG
> Computer: A History of the Information Machine. Link to Amazon:
> https://z.umn.edu/Computer_A_History
> How Students Built a Replica of ENIAC. PC Magazine 2026
> https://www.pcmag.com/news/how-80-autistic-students-built-an-amazing-recreation-of-the-ginormous-eniac?test_uuid=04IpBmWGZleS0I0J3epvMrC&test_variant=A
> 
> If you have a new LOGO, and want it on the web site and to be a supporter,
> send it now. Please make your Sponsor Donations on the "Donate Now" button
> on the web site.
> 
> If you come in person you can meet people, watch 3D animation of the ENIAC,
> meet book authors, purchase special books, see special exhibits and eat
> ENIAC CAKE!
> 
> Special Note: This event is Coincident with Americas Semiquincentennial!
> (250th) Watch Here:
> https://www.britannica.com/video/how-to-pronounce-semiquincentennial-and-what-it-means/-326853

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