An IBM 650 found in the basement of Learned Hall is believed to be the University's first computer. It was bought in 1957.
An emeritus professor of computer science was told about the discovery, and has been taking the components to his home, where he plans to restore the computer to its full magnetic drum glory. When it was fully functional, the computer could store a whopping 1,000 ten digit numbers.
The lab director who discovered the computer estimates that the computer science department's 500 2 gigahertz desktop computers have 100 million times the processing power of the 6 foot tall 650.
You can pretend you have your own 650 with the IBM 650 simulator.
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If you've got weevils to identify, patience is a virtue. At current rates of taxonomic description it'll only take 650 more years to name all the weevil species.
Good news from CDC. Yesterday they announced immediate public release of some 650 influenza gene sequences. The new openness is part of a collaboration with the Association of Public Health Laboratories (APHL):
I guess Marc Morano has found out about google alerts and seems to pop up on blog posts that mention James Inhofe, or his 650 scientists and probably his own name (Hi Marc!) Nice way to use the tax payer's money.
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