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Thu, Mar 11

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Zoom webinar

How Olivetti Invented the World’s First Desktop Computer & Put the Soul in the Machine

A talk by Dr. Arthur Molella (Smithsonian Institution). This lecture explores the associations between Italian entrepreneur Adriano Olivetti's ideology, his reinvention of the Olivetti company town of Ivrea in northern Italy & "Programma 101."

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How Olivetti Invented the World’s First Desktop Computer & Put the Soul in the Machine
How Olivetti Invented the World’s First Desktop Computer & Put the Soul in the Machine

Time & Location

Mar 11, 2021, 5:00 p.m. PST

Zoom webinar

About the Event

Italian company Olivetti invented the world’s first desktop computer - Programma 101 - in 1965, well ahead of major computer companies. The revolutionary little machine was the product of a sweeping utopian project of company president Adriano Olivetti, who aimed to transform the relationship between technology, art, society & the human spirit.

Dr.  lecture explores the associations between his ideology, his reinvention of the Olivetti company town of Ivrea in northern Italy & Programma 101.

THURSDAY, MARCH 11 @ 5:00 pm PST

Online event – in English – via Zoom

FREE ADMISSION for Members of the Dante Society of BC.

$5 fee for non-members

If you are not a member of the Society, please make your payment via e-transfer to: info@dantesocietybc.ca 

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Dr. Arthur Molella was the founding director, now emeritus, of the Smithsonian’s Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation at the National Museum of American History. He received his PhD in the History of Science from Cornell University. He teaches in Johns Hopkins University’s department of the History of Science and Technology and in its online Masters in Museum Studies program.

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www.dantesocietybc.ca/cultural-events

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