Open Day - Saturday June 20th

An Open Day was held on Saturday June 20th 1998 in the Computer Building, University of Manchester. There were displays of the current research in the department, and talks by the leading Rebuild experts, Chris Burton (the Baby) and Tony Sale (Colossus). The 1998 IEE MicroMouse competition was held in the Department of Computer Science in the afternoon.

Manchester Computing (in the same building) also held an open day, and visitors were also encouraged to visit the exhibitions at the Manchester Museum (across the road) and the Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester (by free shuttle bus).

50TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE WORLD'S FIRST STORED PROGRAM COMPUTER

Saturday June 20th 1998

An Open Day will be held on Saturday June 20th 1998 in the Computer Building, University of Manchester.

The first computer ever to run a program stored in its internal memory did so at the University of Manchester on 21 June 1948.

50 years later, the University is still at the forefront of computing. Come and see what computers can do now, and will be able to do in the near future, as demonstrated by the leading-edge research in the Department of Computer Science.

The attractions will include:

Displays and demonstrations of advanced research in:
- Parallel machines
- Microelectronics
- Design automation
- Medical informatics
- Software systems
- Design verification
- Robotics
- Virtual reality
- Artificial intelligence

Talks by leading speakers:

Alvy Ray Smith (Microsoft) on the history of computer graphics, including a showing of "Geri's Game", the 1998 Oscar-winner in the category of short animated films -- Sorry; cancelled due to family illness.
Chris Burton (Computer Conservation Society) on the rebuilding of the Manchester "Baby", the first programmable computer. Chris Burton led the team that recently rebuilt the Baby
Tony Sale (Computer Conservation Society) on "Colossus", the computer that cracked the German codes in the 2nd World War. Tony Sale led the team that recently rebuilt the Colossus

The IEE Micromouse Competition: An annual national competition where robot mice compete to see which can find its way out of a maze in the shortest time.
There will be an amateur radio station on the air, callsign GB50MKI.

In connection with this Open Day there are parallel events running in Manchester Computing (in the same building as Computer Science) and in the Manchester Museum (across Oxford Road, with a special exhibition), and the rebuilt 'Baby' machine will be on display at the Manchester Museum of Science and Industry at Castlefield, with a special exhibition "Futures" (opens June 18th).

There will be plenty of free parking available nearby on the University Campus.

There will be a free shuttle bus service between the University and Castlefield sites.