Events & sightings

Late 2003 saw many meetings and tributes held to commemorate the 100th anniversary of John von Neumann's birth. We report on one such meeting but hope to record others in future issues. The JvN2003@Greenwich meeting was held at King William Court of the Old Royal Naval College in London. Computer equipment, once viewed as leading edge, is quickly condemned as obsolete and banished to basement store rooms or rubbish bins. The magpie instincts of some of the academics and technicians at the University of Greenwich, London, preserved some such relics in cluttered offices and garages to the dismay of colleagues and partners. When the University moved into its new campus in the historic buildings of the Old Royal Naval College in the center of Greenwich, corridor space in King William Court provided an opportunity to display some of this equipment so that students could see these objects and gain a more vivid appreciation of their subject's history. The Algol Bulletin was an informal publication produced under the auspices of the International federation of Information Processing (IFIP). To ensure preservation of the Algol Bulletin, we have digitized the complete set, preserving if for future scholars.