MIT Department of Electrical Engineering & Computer Science

MIT's Building 20: The Magical Incubator Story, Anecdote, or Reminiscence

I Found My Calling in Building 20

Ralph Hyre
rhyre@medplus.com

My first semester at MIT (fall 1981), I took a LOGO seminar in building 20. We used Apple II's in a secured room.

My first time in the lab after hours, I had no problem turning the keylock to disable the alarm. I then realized that I had no idea what the combination for the keypad was.

30 seconds later, the alarm sounded, filling the whole building with the shrillest sound I've ever heard. I met a lot of Building 20 residents that night.

After the bad experience with the Apple II room, I found the CCC (Concourse Computer Center) and its Unix system. Everybody was having such a great time, I realized I had found my calling: bringing the benefits of computing to people, so they could have the same kind of experience.

Tech Square may have housed the brains of the computer science operation, but a good bit of the hacker spirit and soul resided comfortably in Building 20.