Some Tech Lives Forever
November 9th 2009
The Whirlwind is my favorite first-generation computer. It is also the basis of SAGE, a nationwide air defense system built by IBM in the ’50s. Nuclear missiles made SAGE obsolete pretty quickly. By the mid ’60s, big chunks of the SAGE computers, affectionately called the AN/FSQ-7, started showing up in surplus.
These parts soon made cameo and even starring appearances in TV shows and movies. Mike Loewen has constructed a web site that tracks “sightings” of Q-7 parts in movies.
We’ve all seen them: those rows of blinkenlights installed at a slight angle and often rigged with pyrotechnics. They appeared in almost every science fiction TV show from the ’60s, and many movies. Surprisingly, these ancient panels still show up occasionally. Most recently, panels appeared in the background of a Comcast ad.
