Chapter 1
The age of the punch card
Chapter 2
Mainframes and the race to the Moon
Chapter 3
The personal computer revolution
Chapter 4
Smart machines and the grand pivot
YOUR GOAL
Master of The story of IBM
Ch 2 · Mainframes and the race to the Moon
marcus Space Race Mainframes
From punch cards' start, IBM's power, a work of art, Sent us to the Moon!
marcus An IBM engineer invented the credit card magnetic stripe by ironing tape onto plastic.
marcus IBM hardware and software calculated trajectories and guided Apollo 11 astronauts to the Moon.
Fun Fact
Apollo code weight: The paper printouts of the computer code that guided Apollo 11 to the Moon weighed more than the actual computer hardware itself.
Glossary
mainframe (noun)
A large, high-speed computer designed to process vast amounts of data and support numerous users simultaneously. IBM mainframes calculated the complex trajectory data that guided the Apollo 11 lunar landing in 1969.
A large, high-speed computer designed to process vast amounts of data and support numerous users simultaneously. IBM mainframes calculated the complex trajectory data that guided the Apollo 11 lunar landing in 1969.
Quiz
Where was the critical IBM flight computer physically located during the Apollo 11 Saturn V rocket launch?
Quiz
What was the name of the first high-level programming language, released by IBM in 1957 for scientific calculations?
Quiz
Which historic space mission in 1969 relied on IBM computers to calculate flight trajectories and guide astronauts?
Quiz
What was the name of the revolutionary compatible mainframe computer family launched by IBM in 1964?
Quiz
Which storage technology, featuring large spinning platters, did IBM introduce in 1956 with the RAMAC 305 system?