From Montreal to Mimms Museum
The Mimms Museum of Technology and Art welcomes visitors from the Atlanta, Georgia area, other U.S. states, regions, and beyond. Recently, The Mimms welcomed a visitor from Montreal, Quebec, Canada! Martin Masson travelled specifically to view the Apollo Guidance Computer (AGC) and Display & Keyboard (DSKY) in the Tribute to Space Exploration exhibit. Because of the computational requirements to travel off the Earth and into deep space, computing technology developed significantly during the early years of space exploration and continues to this day.
Mimms volunteer, Bob Castro (aka “Space Bob”), was delighted to show Masson the highlights of the collection, but noted his first surprise was found in the rotunda. “His eyes got big when he recognized the Enigma machine in its display case,” recalled Bob. “It was great to point out an important artifact of technology history even before entering the space section.”
A veteran of computer programming and management himself, Mr. Masson is preparing a lecture for the University of Sherbrooke, Canada, on the contributions of women in computing in March and an April event covering the life and accomplishments of Alan Turing. The legendary British mathematician who led the team whose contributions were so valuable during World War Two, breaking the Enigma machine’s secret German messages and laying the groundwork for subsequent computing innovations.
“I created FORTRAN 66 programs on paper punch cards in the 1970s,” recalled Masson. We told him that the first Saturday afternoon of each month, Mimms volunteers power on the IBM 029 punch card machine for visitors to try their hand at direct data entry.
Bob and Martin toured the museum for over three hours, and he took in the sights of the Apollo Lunar Module replica, authentic Cray Super Computers, and the Timeline of personal computers, which benefited from the miniaturization brought about by the space program.
“It was very satisfying for me to show Martin some of our holdings. That he had a deep understanding of computer technology and history made his visit memorable. He also told me that the Lunar Module landing gear was designed and built by Héroux Machine Parts, a Canadian company!”
