The museum displays a working version of the Difference Engine No. 2, which weighs five tons and contains 8,000 parts.
It houses one of the few remaining examples of the Apollo Guidance Computer used during the moon landings.
The collection includes the original Cray-1 supercomputer, recognizable by its iconic circular seat design.
Visitors can view an early prototype of the 'oN-Line System' (NLS), demonstrated by Douglas Engelbart during 'The Mother of All Demos' in 1968.
The museum holds the original code and hardware components from the first web server used by Tim Berners-Lee at CERN.
It features a dedicated exhibit on the history of video games, including an original 1971 Computer Space arcade cabinet.
The Computer History Museum in Mountain View houses one of the world's largest collections of computing artifacts, spanning from the 1940s to the present day. Its flagship exhibition, 'Revolution: The First 2000 Years of Computing,' tracks the evolution of technology through 19 chronological galleries. Visitors can view rare hardware such as the Difference Engine No. 2, designed by Charles Babbage and constructed in the 1990s. The collection features over 1,100 artifacts, including early supercomputers, gaming consoles, and personal computing prototypes. The facility serves as a research institution dedicated to preserving the stories of the people and the machines that shaped the digital age. Interactive displays explain complex concepts like logic gates, software development, and the history of the internet. It maintains an extensive digital archive of oral histories, source code, and historical documentation accessible to researchers and the public.
In front of the massive, wall-sized vintage IBM mainframe displays in the main hall.
Download the museum's mobile app before arrival to access supplemental audio content and detailed exhibition maps.
Check the event calendar online, as the museum frequently hosts speaker series and tech industry panels.
Focus on the 'Revolution' exhibit first, as it provides the necessary context for the smaller, specialized galleries.
Do not attempt to see the entire permanent collection in under two hours; it is physically large and text-heavy.
Closed on Mondays and Tuesdays.
