If you’ve ever wondered how your photos, emails, or favorite apps actually exist inside a computer, the answer comes down to two tiny ideas with outsized impact: bits and bytes.
They may sound like something you’d order at a tech-themed tapas bar, but these two concepts quietly power everything digital — including the technology celebrated every day at the Mimms Museum of Technology and Art.
And fittingly, they’re also the inspiration behind one of our most important events of the year: BYTE, our annual fundraiser coming up on March 21st, 2026.
Let’s take a quick (and painless) tour of where these names came from — and why they matter.
What Exactly Is a Bit?
A bit is the smallest unit of digital information. It can be either a 0 or a 1 — on or off, yes or no, coffee or no coffee ☕️.
The term bit is short for “binary digit”, coined in 1947 by mathematician John Tukey at Bell Labs. At the time, computers were brand new, room-sized machines, and engineers needed a simple way to talk about binary choices. “Binary digit” was accurate… but “bit” was a lot easier to say before your third cup of coffee.
In short:
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A bit answers a single yes/no question
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One bit alone isn’t very exciting
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Things get interesting when bits work together
Enter the Byte (No Chewing Required)
A byte is a group of bits that work together to represent something meaningful — like a letter, number, or symbol.
The word byte was coined in 1956 by IBM engineer Werner Buchholz. He intentionally spelled it byte instead of bite so it wouldn’t be confused with bit. Engineers are practical people like that.
Originally, a byte didn’t always mean the same thing. Early computers used different-sized bytes — 6 bits, 7 bits, even 9 bits — depending on what they were trying to do. Eventually, the industry settled on what we all know today:
1 byte = 8 bits
That standard made it possible to represent 256 different values — enough for letters, numbers, punctuation, and later, color, sound, images, and video.
In other words, the byte became the building block of the digital world.
Why This Matters (and Why It’s Called BYTE)
Every breakthrough in computing — from mainframes to personal computers, from the internet to artificial intelligence — is built on bits and bytes. They’re small, simple ideas that scaled into world-changing technology.
That’s exactly what BYTE, the Mimms Museum’s annual fundraiser, represents.
BYTE celebrates:
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The foundations of modern technology
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The engineers, innovators, and ideas that shaped our digital world
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The mission of Mimms Museum to preserve, interpret, and inspire through technology and art
Just as tiny bits combine into powerful systems, your support — one ticket, one sponsorship, one contribution — helps build something far bigger: a museum that educates, preserves history, and inspires future innovators.
Join Us for BYTE
BYTE isn’t just a fundraiser. It’s a celebration of how far technology has come — and where it’s going next.
We invite you to be part of it.
👉 Learn more about BYTE and get involved at
https://mimmsmuseum.org/byte26
After all, every big idea starts with something small. Sometimes it starts with a bit. Sometimes it takes a byte. And sometimes, it takes a community coming together to make the future possible.
We hope to see you there.
