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Computing Power

This maze of electronics was part of WHOI’s first at-sea computer, an IBM machine installed on R/V Chain in 1962. A special air conditioning unit had to be installed to keep the equipment cool, making the computer room a popular place during cruises to tropical waters. Later, Hewlett Packard invented the 2216A for WHOI, touting it as the company’s “first go-anywhere, do-anything computer.”(Photo courtesy of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Archives)