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Scrap Dealer Finds Apollo-Era NASA Computers In Dead Engineer's Basement (arstechnica.com)
Long-time Slashdot reader Joe_NoOne quotes Ars Technica:
A pair of Apollo-era NASA computers and hundreds of mysterious tape reels have been discovered in a deceased engineer's basement in Pittsburgh... Most of the tapes are unmarked, but the majority of the rest appear to be instrumentation reels for Pioneer 10 and Pioneer 11, NASA's fly-by missions to Jupiter and Saturn... At some point in the early 1970s, an IBM engineer working for NASA at the height of the Space Race took home the computers -- and the mysterious tape reels. A scrap dealer, invited to clean out the deceased's electronics-filled basement, discovered the computers. The devices were clearly labelled "NASA PROPERTY," so the dealer called NASA to report the find. "Please tell NASA these items were not stolen," the engineer's heir told the scrap dealer, according to the report. "They belonged to IBM Allegheny Center Pittsburgh, PA 15212. During the 1968-1972 timeframe, IBM was getting rid of the items so [redacted engineer] asked if he could have them and was told he could have them."
"NASA told the family of the deceased that it was not in the junk removal business," Ars Technica reports, adding "The two computers are so heavy that a crane was likely used to move the machines." A NASA archivist concluded there's no evidence the tapes contained anything of historic significance.
"NASA told the family of the deceased that it was not in the junk removal business," Ars Technica reports, adding "The two computers are so heavy that a crane was likely used to move the machines." A NASA archivist concluded there's no evidence the tapes contained anything of historic significance.
Historically, retirement is mandatory at the age 65 at IBM. That was baked into the IBM culture all the way back from the early 20th century.
My father retired at 55. Then he proceeded to collect his pension from IBM for more years than he worked. He was damned lucky and I'll never get anything similar. Few of us today will.
Yes, there is no evidence when one does not look. I believe that a few dozen reels had labels; hundreds of reels had no labels, their contents unknown. If was a great leap of faith to assume that they were all Pioneer telemetry. Other missions? Software?
The 'smoking gun' here is that whatever was on the tapes was important enough that the engineer squirreled it away in his basement. Was he simply a hoarder? Did he pull tapes just so that he could someday bring up a 1/2" drive of his own, so he wanted some old scratch tape around to use on it?
Did the 'archivists' investigate this at all, or was this just a pesky situation interfering with whatever it was they wanted to be doing instead?