News and Events : News 05-06

NMH Welcomes Pioneering Computer Scientist Dick MacKinnon ’56

GILL, MA—Northfield Mount Hermon School presents a talk by veteran of the computing industry, Dick MacKinnon ’56. MacKinnon worked for IBM for 30 years and helped develop software for the first IBM personal computer, the ancestor of modern Windows machines. His speech will address the current state of the computer industry and how its history will affect its future, attempting to answer such questions as how did PCs come into being, and why? Who has benefited most from their development? How has Microsoft fit into the picture? How has the PC stumbled and how has it soared?

MacKinnon will also bring some of his antique processors, including one of the first “portable” computers.

MacKinnon, in addition to his work at IBM, taught at MIT’s Sloan School of Management and at Boston University. He also served as a consultant on information systems before he retired in 2002. His talk is to take place on February 15 at 6:45 pm in the Rhodes Room of Beveridge Hall on the Mount Hermon campus in Gill. The public is invited to this free event. For directions, go to www.nmhschool.org or call 413-498-3000.

Northfield Mount Hermon is an independent coeducational boarding and day high school in Gill, MA.

CONTACT: Richard Eisenberg, 413-498-5362, reisenberg@nmhschool.org
or Kate Snyder, 413-498-3357, ksnyder@nmhschool.org

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