Heinz Nixdorf MuseumsForum
 View of the museum building |
|
| Data | |
|---|---|
| place | Paderborn |
| Art |
Computer Museum
|
| architect | Ludwig Thürmer, Gerhard Diel |
| opening | October 24, 1996 |
| Number of visitors (annually) | 114,000 (2016) |
| management |
Jochen Viehoff
|
| Website | |
| ISIL | DE-MUS-496713 |
The Heinz Nixdorf MuseumsForum ( HNF ) in Paderborn is the largest computer museum in the world (as of 2018).
It is named after the Paderborn computer pioneer and entrepreneur Heinz Nixdorf .
history
In 1977 Heinz Nixdorf received numerous gifts in the form of historic office machines at the celebrations for the company anniversary of 25 years of Nixdorf Computer AG, which gave him the idea of expanding them into a collection for a computer museum. The museum idea became more concrete in 1983/1984 through acquisitions with the support of the Cologne office machine expert Uwe Breker. In 1985 the entrepreneur had his first exhibition concept drawn up by Prof. Ludwig Thürmer and his partners, but it was still location-neutral. In 1986 Heinz Nixdorf died unexpectedly. The Nixdorf employee Willi Lenz, also a member of the “Computermuseum” working group, keeps the idea in discussion with the city of Paderborn and in 1990 can obtain a positive council resolution from the city to establish it.
Between 1992 and 1996 the HNF was designed and built on the premises of the former headquarters of Nixdorf Computer AG by the Berlin architects Ludwig Thürmer and Gerhard Diel and a scientific team led by mathematician Norbert Ryska. In the presence of the then Federal Chancellor Helmut Kohl , the house was opened on October 24, 1996 and has an average of over 110,000 visitors annually, so that the 2.4 million visitor limit has already been exceeded. The institution is supported by the Westphalia Foundation ; next to the Heinz Nixdorf Foundation , emerged from the estate of Heinz Nixdorf.
exhibition
In its permanent exhibition, the museum presents 5,000 years of history of information and communication technology. In a historical journey through time , the arch is drawn, from the origin of writing in Mesopotamia around 3,000 BC, to current topics such as the Internet, artificial intelligence and robotics. On 6,000 square meters, more than 5,000 exhibits can be seen, which are organized on two floors. In total, the museum stores around 25,000 objects. Some museum objects can be accessed in museum-digital , an online database.
First floor
On the first floor the visitor will find the historical topics. The background of computer science as a teaching of the automatic processing of information , which leads to the invention of the computer , is examined here in principle. Information in the form of writing , language and mathematics is taken up in all three aspects.
The topics are:
- The origin of writing: from Mesopotamian clay balls to cuneiform script and hieroglyphics , to classic letterpress printing and the Linotype typesetting machine . Automation began with the introduction of the typewriter .
- Calculators and calculating machines : from the abacus to calculating sticks to the calculators by Pascal and Leibniz to their more modern versions of the Sprossenrad calculating machines. There is also a collection of cash registers used for calculating machines.
- The history of telegraphy : starting with the first Morse telegraph, through early telephony , to an exchange with rotary dials .
The incipient convergence of the various technologies is consistently taken up in the exhibits on office automation; above all with devices from the house of the IBM predecessor Hollerith . But there is also room for exotics like the “ Chess Turk ”, a mechanical loom control and the early computers like ENIAC or the systems from Zuse .
A special area is reserved for cryptography , in which the history of encryption is presented, from early ciphers from antiquity to the Enigma .
Second story
The more modern versions of the computer can be found on the second floor . The sorting here is less timely than thematic. The topics are also broad and cover the entire range from home computers and video games to supercomputers with many of their applications.
The entry is made with early computers and the development from the tube to the relay to transistor- based systems. A separate department is later devoted to the microprocessor and its production.
An area is dedicated to the PC as an important step towards comprehensive availability as an office device, as is the systems of medium-sized data technology. The step from PC to home computer is documented with a complete collection of classics such as the Altair 8800 , Apple Lisa or Texas Instruments TI-99 / 4A .
The Cray-2 supercomputer is a special gem .
The exhibits on current topics such as robotics , new media , wearable computing and artificial neural networks are impressive .
The special thing about the exhibition is that for all topics and times, in addition to the pure exhibits and detailed explanations, experiments, tasks and examples are integrated into the exhibition, which give the visitor the opportunity to make their own experiences and try them out.
Third floor
The third floor houses a school laboratory and a school research center . In addition, the area is used for temporary exhibitions and for seminars and training courses. Until July 20, 2008 there was z. B. the special exhibition “Pay, please! To see the wonderful world from zero to infinity ”. From January 18 to July 5, 2009 the special exhibition "Computer.Sport" was shown. The special exhibition “Codes and Clowns. Claude Shannon - Juggler of Science “was open to the public from November 6, 2009 to February 28, 2010. On October 18, 2012, the HNF kicked off the worldwide tour of the “ Max Planck Science Tunnel”, which was shown until February 24, 2013. From September 2, 2015 to July 10, 2016, the much-discussed exhibition “In the Beginning was Ada - Women in Computer History” was presented. The year 2019 is marked by the large special exhibition "Departure into space - experience space travel".
particularities
An extensive range of events complements the permanent exhibition. Lecture series, discussions and congresses address issues of the information society. In museum education programs, children can, among other things, do math with the abacus, learn secret scripts or build robots. There are guided tours on numerous topics. You can watch the film " Ten High " at any time . Until 2009, the HNF housed the Business Forum, a training and qualification platform in the areas of technology trends, e-business and competence development.
In 2000 and 2016, the HNF was the venue for the national “ Jugend forscht ” competition. Since 2010 the HNF has been sponsoring the annual regional competition "Young people research - students experiment".
In 2014 the Central European Final of the First Lego League was held at the HNF. The annual regional competition of the FIRST LEGO League takes place in cooperation with the HNF and the “Paderborn ist Informatik” initiative.
The WDR Computer Club broadcast three special programs called WDR-ComputerNacht live from the HNF. These programs were broadcast on a weekend at the end of 1998, 1999 and 2001.
From 2001 to 2005 the HNF was the annual venue for the “ RoboCup German Open ”.
Since 2004 the HNF has been the venue for the Paderborn chess tournament " Chess Turk Cup".
The Avatar Max is a virtual agent who is used as a museum guide in the Heinz Nixdorf MuseumsForum in Paderborn. Based on a BDI architecture , Max has proactive skills that allow him to address people and involve them in a conversation.
literature
- Ludwig Thürmer (Ed.): The Origin of the Heinz Nixdorf MuseumsForum. Architecture and design at the interface between people and technology . 1996, DNB 1066488746 .
Web links
- hnf.de - Official website of the Heinz Nixdorf MuseumsForum
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d Prehistory of the HNF. In: hnf.de. Retrieved July 5, 2020 .
- ↑ http://www.nw.de/lokal/kreis_paderborn/paderborn/22067947_Neue-Ausstellung-im-HNF-setzt-alte-Depotschaetze-in-Szene.html
- ↑ https://www.museum-digital.de/owl/index.php?t=institution&instnr=23
- ↑ Detlef Borchers: Exhibition pays tribute to computer pioneer Shannon. Heise online, July 9, 2009, accessed January 25, 2012 .
- ↑ The feminine side of IT: From Ada Lovelace to robot woman. In: sueddeutsche.de. August 31, 2015, accessed August 3, 2020 .
- ↑ http://www.schachtuerken-cup.de/
Coordinates: 51 ° 43 '53 " N , 8 ° 44' 8.3" E