The Centre for Computing History

The Centre for Computing History The Centre for Computing History The Centre for Computing History is a friendly and accessible museum with a strong focus on learning.
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Its core purpose is to use, for the benefit of everyone, its collections, displays, learning programmes, and events to explore the social, cultural and historical impact – the lived experience - of developments in computing over the past 80 years. Future generations will wonder how this massively important and transformative cultural development happened, so while 80 years is short in terms of hum

an evolution, through hands-on and inclusive experiences we explore how these powerful devices became an inextricable part of all our lives and changed our world.

For this week's we're featuring our Apple Macintosh SE/30. Now this is not just any Macintosh, it was once owned by Do...
27/08/2026

For this week's we're featuring our Apple Macintosh SE/30. Now this is not just any Macintosh, it was once owned by Douglas Adams, the author of The HitchHiker’s Guide to the Galaxy! 🌠🌌

Discovered in late 2015 by one of our volunteers, Andy, the computer came from the father of the author of the software title Starship Titanic who had worked with Adams on the game. It is not known if Adams authored anything on this computer. It also came with a 40MB SCSI hard drive, which sadly failed to work.

The computer is now on display securely in our main gallery, along with the requisite towel! Have you discovered this exhibit?
We're still open 7 days a week, including the upcoming Bank Holiday. We go back to term time opening hours (Wednesday - Sunday, 10am - 5pm) w/c 7 September 2026.

Thank you to Super Rare Games for the latest donation, and for supporting our video game preservation initiative! 🎮A gre...
26/08/2026

Thank you to Super Rare Games for the latest donation, and for supporting our video game preservation initiative! 🎮

A great collection of PS5 and Nintendo Switch games, these titles now join our permanent collection. 🙂

Read our Video Game Heritage and Preservation article to find out more about what we do here in the museum - https://www.computinghistory.org.uk/pages/56680/videogame-preservation/

Super Rare Games kindly donates a physical copy of every game they produce to our archive. Their work producing physical copies of otherwise digitally exclusive games aligns with our goals for comprehensive video game preservation, and we are thrilled to have them supporting us.

BBC Domesday Project at 40, tickets are now LIVE! 📀 40 years ago, thousands of schoolchildren across the UK contributed ...
24/08/2026

BBC Domesday Project at 40, tickets are now LIVE! 📀

40 years ago, thousands of schoolchildren across the UK contributed to one of the most ambitious digital heritage projects ever undertaken. Now, we’re celebrating the BBC Domesday Project at 40!

Join us for a special anniversary event featuring:
🎤 Guest speakers and stories from those involved
💾 A chance to explore the original BBC Domesday System
🔎 And, best of all, the chance to see if you can find your own contribution from 1986!

🎟️ Tickets are now LIVE. Book your place: https://www.computinghistory.org.uk/det/77318/Domesday-at-40

📅 Saturday 19 September 2026, 10am - 5pm
📍 Centre for Computing History, Cambridge
Full itinerary coming soon!

Did you take part in the BBC Domesday Project 40 years ago? Perhaps you contributed photographs, surveys or information about your local area, or maybe you remember working on the project as a teacher.

We’d love to hear your memories! If you took part, please fill in our short survey: https://tinyurl.com/2yevxsfy

Whether you were part of Domesday back in 1986 or simply want to discover more about this fascinating piece of digital history, we’d love to see you there.

We would like to wish Margaret Hamilton a belated Happy 90th Birthday! 🎈From all of us at the Centre for Computing Histo...
22/08/2026

We would like to wish Margaret Hamilton a belated Happy 90th Birthday! 🎈

From all of us at the Centre for Computing History, we’re celebrating Margaret’s remarkable life and legacy. Born on 17 August 1936, Margaret was a pioneering computer scientist and software engineer whose work on the Apollo missions helped make the first Moon landings possible.

Her contributions transformed the field of software engineering and continue to inspire generations of innovators.

Here’s to 90 years of pioneering spirit, ingenuity and an extraordinary contribution to computing. 🌟

Happy Birthday, Margaret! 🎈

20/08/2026

Ever challenged a desk sized ‘60s computer to a game of tic tac toe? ⭕️❌

For this week’s our Collections Officer, Adrian, demos the game on our Elliott 903. Spoiler alert - it’s very hard to beat!!

The Elliott 903 uses paper punch tape to load programs and data, connected to a teletype terminal and paper tape punch for output. Built into a single desk-sized cabinet, it uses an 18-bit processor with 8192 words of magnetic core storage.

Our Elliott 903 is on display at the back of our main gallery, though it is not running every day. If you’d like to see it working during a visit, please kindly ask our collections team!

cambridgemuseums

We hosted our second Repair Cafe as part of our Broken Tech, Broken Earth project, headed by project co-ordinator Nadira...
19/08/2026

We hosted our second Repair Cafe as part of our Broken Tech, Broken Earth project, headed by project co-ordinator Nadirah Hussain. 🛠️ ♻️

It was fantastic to see such a wide range of items brought in for repair: from old winter coats and laptops to a mini fridge! 🧥💻
For unfixable items, we also provided an e-waste bin, helping add to the 123kg of e-waste we have saved from landfill so far!

Here is some lovely feedback from our attendees:
💬 “I was really impressed by the time and attention given to my rattly mini fridge. Thank you.” Rowan Simpson (mini fridge)
💬 “We walked over to today’s repair cafe which was convenient and welcomed by friendly staff! Ayesha was wonderful – very quick and very talented. THANK YOU!” Alison Barnes (stained glass ornament).
💬 "Andrew was very helpful and friendly, got my monitor working again. Lucky it didn’t involve taking apart the whole thing!” - Vincent Lyle (CRT Monitor).

A huge thank you to Cambridge Carbon Footprint, Abbey in Cambridge and everyone who came along!

Broken Tech, Broken Earth is funded by the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation Collections Fund, run by the Museums Association.

Remember that Retro Computer Club is back this coming weekend!! A friendly, informal gathering where everyone is welcome...
18/08/2026

Remember that Retro Computer Club is back this coming weekend!!

A friendly, informal gathering where everyone is welcome. This is a great chance to meet up and chat with fellow retro computing enthusiasts, led by one of our volunteers, Will.

📅 Sunday 23rd August
⏰ 10am - 12pm
📍 The Centre for Computing History, 80's Classroom
📺 Please feel free to bring something along to show. We will also be bringing out machines from our collection that isn't normally on display!

No need to prebook, just turn up on the day, standard museum entry costs apply.
For more information see the link: https://www.computinghistory.org.uk/det/77331/Retro-Computer-Club-Sunday-23rd-August-2026/

📸 Images from previous Retro Computer Club meet ups.

We have free parking, and our Pac Lunch Shop will be open serving hot and cold drinks, and snacks. ☕️

16/08/2026

Battle of the Consoles! 🕹️

The team battle it out using our own Games Console Trump Cards to uncover the winner of best games console. In this short we see the debate for the SNK NeoGeo AES. 🎮

Find out who its competitor was and who won this round over on our YouTube channel. Watch the full video and see who was crowned the ultimate games console! https://youtu.be/W3rdYf0x5r8?is=LxFKUNfpuW-yew0e

Fancy your own set of Games Console Trump Cards? They’re available to purchase from our museum shop, online and in store 😄

The ‘70s called… they want their phone back! 📞This week’s takes us back to our 1970s Office, where making a phone call...
13/08/2026

The ‘70s called… they want their phone back! 📞

This week’s takes us back to our 1970s Office, where making a phone call meant a rotary dial, a little patience, and no speed dial or caller ID!

Have you visited our interactive 1970s Office? Step back in time, explore the exhibit and get hands-on with the technology of the era!

☀️ Visiting over the summer holidays? We’re open 7 days a week, 10am - 5pm.

We are happy to announce we are taking part in 2026! Join us on Saturday 12 and Sunday 13 September for Stitch & Code:...
11/08/2026

We are happy to announce we are taking part in 2026!

Join us on Saturday 12 and Sunday 13 September for Stitch & Code: The Binary Quilt. An exhibition and hands-on workshop bringing together traditional Japanese stitching techniques and the digital world.

During the Cambridge Festival 2026, communities across Cambridge came together to contribute to the Cambridge Festival Community Quilt. We’re delighted to display the finished quilt here at the Centre for Computing History as part of . 🎉

Discover Hitomezashi, a beautiful Japanese stitching technique that creates intricate patterns using simple, closely spaced stitches. Explore the Binary Quilt exhibition, then have a go yourself and create your own stitched square to take home! It’s a fascinating meeting of craft and computing, traditional techniques and digital ideas. 🔢🧵

📅 Saturday 12 & Sunday 13 September 2026
📍 Centre for Computing History, Cambridge
🎟️ FREE entry to the whole museum all weekend!

Use discount code QUILT100 at checkout. This offer is available for this event and weekend only. Pre-booking is recommended to guarantee entry!

Come and see the community quilt, explore the exhibition, try your hand at Hitomezashi and take home your own stitched creation!

Find out more and book your place 👇

🎟 Saturday: https://www.computinghistory.org.uk/det/77260/Open-Cambridge-Stitch-and-Code-The-Binary-Quilt-Sat-12th-September-2026/

🎟 Sunday: https://www.computinghistory.org.uk/det/77266/Open-Cambridge-Stitch-and-Code-The-Binary-Quilt-Sun-13th-September-2026/

Address

Rene Court, Coldhams Road
Cambridge
CB13EW

Opening Hours

Tuesday 10am - 5pm
Wednesday 10am - 5pm
Thursday 10am - 5pm
Friday 10am - 5pm
Saturday 10am - 5pm
Sunday 10am - 5pm

Telephone

+441223214446

Website

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