Site image gallery

Please see the image use notice before re-using any of these images.  If you believe an image has been used in violation of copyright, or has been incorrectly described in any way, please contact us at feedback@med.miami.edu. 
 

Analytical Engine (1830s). Charles Babbage's design for a mechanical computer anticipated all the basic elements of a modern computer, but instead of electronic circuits it used stacks of gear trains.  Babbage called the arithmetic unit of his engine its "mill," because the gears in it really did grind to produce a result.  The device was not a practical success in Babbage's time, though functioning models were built long after his death.  Source: public domain image.

Antibodies (1991).  Computer-generated image of monoclonal antibodies.  Monoclonal antibodies provide a diverse class of receptors that will bind molecules ranging from nucleic acids to synthetic small molecules.  Source: Lawrence Berkeley  National Laboratory.

Atomic clock (2006).  NIST-F1, the nation's primary time and frequency standard, is a cesium fountain atomic clock developed at the NIST laboratories in Boulder, Colorado.  The uncertainty of NIST-F1 is continually improving. In 2000 the uncertainty was about 1 x 10^-15, but as of the summer of 2005, the uncertainty has been reduced to about 5 x 10^-16, which means it would neither gain nor lose a second in more than 60 million years.  Source: National Institute of Standards and Technology.

Bacteria (2004).  Computer model of the TraR protein structure of Agrobacterium tumefaciens revealed that cells may communicate through releasing and sensing the chemical signals pheromones.  Source: Argonne National Laboratory.

Bacteriophage (2004).  Computer model of the structure of a bacteriophage showing a "chain mail" that protects this viral genome's interior. The protein structure was determined at the BioCARS beamline, operated by the University of Chicago.  Source: Argonne National Laboratory.

Benzene (2002).  Supercomputer visualization of molecular orbital of the benzene dimer with the underlying adaptive computational mesh.  Source: Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

Brains (2006).  Combined brain MRIs from 20 people in a composite computer image, in which ellipsoids represent normal anatomical variations. Pink-purple ellipsoids, signifying the greatest variation, occur in brain regions that are uniquely human, or example, regions that control language and logical reasoning. Blue ellipsoids, representing slight variations, occur in brain regions that control sensation and movements. Source: National Institutes of Health.

 

BRLESC-I computer (1960s). The BRLESC-I featured synchronous vacuum tube logic, 63-bit word size, 1-MHz five-phase clock, first implementation of a polynomial-multiple instruction, and the world's first 1-microsecond core memory.  BRLSC-I was the world's fastest computer until 1964.  Source: US Army photo.  

 

BRLESC-II computer (1960s).  Console of the BRLESC-II, which featured complimentary transistor integrated circuit logic and a 68-bit word size   Note "high-speed" line printer behind CPU and magnetic tape drives behind that.  Source: US Army photo.

Cellulose (2002).  Computer simulation of cellulose breakdown in plant cell walls.  Source: Oak Ridge  National Laboratory.

Circuit boards (1950s).  Patsy Simmers, holding ENIAC board; Gail Taylor, holding EDVAC board; and Milly Beck, holding ORDVAC board.  Source: US Army photo.

Cray 2 Supercomputer (1982).  The Cray-2 was a vector supercomputer offered by Cray Research beginning in 1985. It was the fastest machine in the world when it was released, replacing Cray's own Cray X-MP in that spot. The Cray-2 was bumped off of the top spot by the ETA-10G in 1990. Source: Cray Research.

Cryo-electron micrograph (2006).  Image of multiple adenovirus particles, with computer-generated rendering of an average of those particles (lower right) showing its structure in greater detail than that seen in the micrograph.  Source: National Institutes of Health.

DNA (1985).  Computer-generated image depicts a hydroxyl radical attacking the sugar on the back bone of a DNA molecule. Clusters of dots indicate reaction areas around the sugar.  Source: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

Deuteron (2004).  Parallel supercomputers were used to calculate the forces that bind together nucleons – protons and neutrons – to form atomic nuclei. These images represent different angular momentum states of the deuteron, a two-body hydrogen nucleus comprising one proton and one neutron. Source: Argonne National Laboratory.

EDVAC (1950s).  EDVAC (Electronic Discrete Variable Automatic Computer) was the first internally stored program computer to be built, a major improvement over the ENIAC.  ENIAC was programmed by setting switches on function tables and by changing the wiring (wired programs). EDVAC performed binary addition, subtraction, multiplication and division with a memory capacity of 1,000 44-bit words (later set to 1,024 words, thus giving a memory, in modern terms, of 5.5 kilobytes). Source: US Army photo.

 

ENIAC (1940s).  The Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer (ENIAC) was the first large-scale, electronic, digital computer capable of being reprogrammed to solve a full range of computing problems. ENIAC was designed and built to calculate artillery firing tables for the U.S. Army's Ballistics Research Laboratory. The first problems run on the ENIAC were related to the design of the hydrogen bomb. Source: US Army photo.

ENIAC wires (1940s). Source: US Army photo.

Enzyme (2002).  Computer simulation of enzyme (green) embedded in a synthetic membrane that increases the enzyme's stability and activity. The enzyme converts toxic materials (purple molecules at left) into harmless substances (yellow and red molecules at right).  Source: Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

Flame (2005).  Computer simulation of turbulent rod-stabilized premixed methane V-flame.   Three-dimensional, time-dependent simulations of turbulent V-flames are used to gain a better understanding of combustion.  Source: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

Florida (1999).  Oblique view from SeaWiFS (Sea-viewing Wide Field-of-view Sensor) of the Florida peninsula, looking toward the Bahamas and the Atlantic Ocean, on 19 March 1999.  Source: SeaWiFS Project, NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, and ORBIMAGE; image re-use courtesy of GeoEye group.

Florida coast (2006).  Coastal relief model.  Source: National Geophysical Data Center, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Galaxy (2003).  Computer simulation of galaxy cluster.  Source: Los Alamos National Laboratory.

Hollerith Pantograph (date unknown).  The Pantograph operator manipulating an armature would create punches in individual Hollerith cards, transcribing data written on the paper on the drum.  Cards would then be fed into electro-mechanical tabulators.  See full image.  Source: U.S. Bureau of the Census.

Hurricane Isabel (2003).  Hurricane Isabel close to making landfall along the North Carolina coast, on 18 September 2003, at 7:53 a.m. EDT.  Isabel altered the North Carolina coastline near Cape Hatteras Village, creating a new near the Cape Hatteras National Seashore Park, north of Cape Hatteras Village.  Source: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Hydrogen bonds (2002).  Computer model of a hydrogen bond-mediated transition state of a chemical reaction. The electrostatic potential isosurface (the lines that resemble a green net) is overlain on the molecular structure, all computed using quantum chemistry.  Source: Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

IBM 704 (1956). Computer room at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.  The IBM 704 was the first mass-produced computer with core memory and floating-point arithmetic.  The 704's 6-bit BCD character set and 36-bit word account for FORTRAN's 6-character limit on identifiers. Source: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.

IBM Deep Blue (1996).  In the first ever traditional chess match between a man (world champion Garry Kasparov) and a computer, Deep Blue won one game, tied two and lost three. The next year, Deep Blue defeated Kasparov in a six-game match -- the first time a reigning world champion lost a match to a computer opponent in tournament play. Source: IBM.

IBM PC (1981).  The original IBM PC was based on a then-revolutionary Intel 8088 processor running at 4.77 Mhz -- less than 1/1000th the speed of today's PC processors.  It had 64K of RAM memory, expandable to 256K (1/4 of a megabyte, or about 1/1000th as much as today's average PC).  The standard storage device was a 5.25-inch floppy drive with 160 kilobytes of capacity (less than 1/6th of a megabyte). Source: IBM.

IBM/Univac computer (1957).  Interior circuitry of IBM/Univac computer, unknown model.  Source: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.

Magnetic field (1984).  Computer generated plot shows magnetic field intensities in a cross section of a two-in-one superconducting dipole magnet.  Source: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

 

Magnetic recording (1990s).  (Left) Image of a test pattern with variable bit density written on magnetic media.  The written tracks are about 9 µm wide with a 1 µmm spacing between them, corresponding to a track density of about 2.5 KTPI (thousand tracks per inch).  (Right) A higher resolution image of test bits written onto another sample disk. These bits, about 0.13 µmm wide (200 KFCI) in a track about 3 µmm wide (8.5 KTPI), represent a storage density of about 1.7 Gbit/sq-in   Magnetic images such as these provide important information about the quality of the written bits, their edge acuity, distortions along the track edge, and other important characteristics which contribute to the fidelity with which magnetic information can be written and retrieved.  Source: National Institute of Standards and Technology.

Miami (2000).  Four-meter resolution IKONOS satellite image of Miami taken 1 May 2000.  Image re-use courtesy of GeoEye group.

Molecular simulation (2005). Produced by the IBM BlueGene/L (BG/L) supercomputer at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Simulation of the transition from a molecular solid (top) to a quantum liquid (bottom) that is expected to occur in hydrogen under high pressure.  BG/L set a world record for computing with a sustained performance of 207.3 trillion floating-point operations per second (teraFLOPS) using 131,072 processors. Source: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.

Motion picture via telephone (1937).  Sending a motion picture from Bell Telephone Laboratories, New York to Philadelphia over the coaxial cable.  Source: Bell Telephone and National Museum of American History.

Multiprogrammatic Capability Resource supercomputer (2006).  MCR is a 11.2 teraflop Linux cluster, containing 1,152 nodes, each with two 2.4-GHz Pentium 4 Xeon processors and 4 gigabytes of memory. MCR is housed at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.  Source: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.

Nanogears (1997).  Computer simulation of two "Fullerene Nano-gears" with multiple teeth, created by attaching benzyne molecules to the outside of a nanotube to form gear teeth.  Nanotubes are molecular-sized pipes made of carbon atoms.  Source: NASA Ames Research Laboratory.

Night lights (2006).   Topography of the earth's surface and night illumination generated from digital data bases.  Source: National Geophysical Data Center, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Nanostructure (2002).  Supercomputer rendering of the magnetic structure of a quantum corral nanostructure, which consists of magnetic iron atoms deposited on a copper surface that "corral" copper electrons.  Source: Oak Ridge National Laboratory

Nuclear reactor core simulation (2004).  Argonne National Laboratory engineers use advanced computing tools to predict fuel and coolant temperatures throughout the reactor's core during normal and abnormal conditions. This image shows the core of a pressurized water reactor. The colors illustrate temperature around the fuel pins shown as white circles.  Source: Argonne National Laboratory.

Perfect storm (2004).  Computer simulation of the "Perfect Storm" that hit the North Atlantic in October 1991 and inspired a book and movie of the same name. The figure shows rainfall and cloud water. Source: Argonne National Laboratory.

Protein knot (2004).  Computer image of a knotted protein called methanobacterium thermoautotrophicum that breaks down waste products and produces methane gas. This was the first structure of the most ancient type of single-celled organism – archaebacterium.  Protein-folding theory previously held that forming a knot was beyond the ability of a protein.  Source: Argonne National Laboratory.

Rust (1963).  Electron micrograph of an oxide scale, sometimes called rust, on a single crystal of iron.  Source: General Motors and National Museum of American History.

Safety dummy (1967).  Impact device at the General Motors Proving Ground near Milford, Michigan drops an instrumented load cell on test dummies to calibrate the spring rate of the dummies' chests.  Source: General Motors and National Museum of American History.

Salmonella (date unknown).  Color-enhanced scanning electron micrograph showing Salmonella typhimurium  (red) invading cultured human cells  Source: Rocky Mountain Laboratories, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health.

 

Saturn's rings (1980).  False-color computer composite of four images of Saturn's rings taken by Voyager 1. The images were taken from 40 million km on 13 October 1980, 30 days before closest approach. The images were combined so as to enhance color variation between the rings.  Shown here are (from inside to outside) the C-ring, B-ring, A-ring, and a small arc-shaped part of the F-ring at upper right. The distance across these rings is about 65,000 km.  Source: National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

Skeleton (ca. 1700).  Persian anatomical illustration by unknown artist, from Iran or Pakistan, ca. 1680-1750, from the Historical Anatomies on the Web collection.  Source: National Library of Medicine.

Storm surge (2006).  Computer model of storm surge associated with a hurricane on the Gulf Coast.  Highest level shown (in red) striking Biloxi, Mississippi.  Source: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

Supernova (2002).  Supercomputer simulation in two dimensions of a supernova shock wave.  Observational evidence suggests that the light from a core-collapse supernova explosion is polarized. One explanation for the observed polarization could be that the explosion is shaped like a cigar. Source: Oak Ridge National Laboratory. 

Supernova (2002).  Supercomputer simulation in three dimensions of a supernova explosion.  Source: Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

Supernova (2006).  Three-dimensional supercomputer simulation of a core-collapse supernova.   The simulation provides a plausible mechanism for explaining how a supernova can morph into a newly born, fast-spinning pulsar after forming and flinging into space elements responsible for life on Earth.  Source: Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

Supernova (2006).  Supercomputer simulation of the explosion of a 15 Solar Mass progenitor at 1 year. The solid data shows the Cobalt distribution. The decay of the radioactive Cobalt produces the gamma-rays detected in the observations. Source: Los Alamos National Laboratory.

Surface of the earth (2006).  Bathymetry/topography of the surface of the earth, generated from digital data bases of sea floor and land elevations.  Source: National Geophysical Data Center, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Tape library (2006).  Storage tape library and tape retrieval robot at the Feynman Computer Center at Fermilab.  Source: Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory.

Tape storage unit (1964).  Input magnetic tape unit of the 473L command-and-control computer system in the Air Force Command Post at the Pentagon.  Source: General Precision and National Museum of American History.

Telegraph switch (1930s).  Western Union Telegraph Company repeater switching system in St. Louis, where telegrams on a perforated tape were relayed automatically to their destinations. Photograph taken at the 100th anniversary of the telegraph.  Source: N.W. Ayer & Sons and National Museum of American History.

Telemetering trailer (1952).  Interior of trailer used by Douglas Aircraft to monitor and direct test flights of high speed aircraft.   In the right foreground are the magnetic tape recorders for two 88-channel FM radio links.  The trailer contains a pole (not pictured) by which a technician watching meters on the radio racks can keep the helix antenna on the trailer roof directed toward the airplane in flight.  Source: Douglas Aircraft and National Museum of American History.

Telephone cables (pre 1945).  A fanned-out view of a six-coaxial cable, that also includes many regular telephone wires to  provide additional long distance circuits.  The Bell Telephone System's goal was to have 2,000 miles of its coaxial cable network manufactured and at least three-fourths of this mileage in the ground by the end of 1945, to meet the steadily increasing need for more telephone circuits between the nation’s principle war centers.  Source: Bell Telephone and National Museum of American History.

Telephone operators (1932).  Switchboard operators at long distance switchboards of the American Telephone and Telegraph Co.  Supervisors (standing) keep close watch as the calls are handled.   Source: AT&T and National Museum of American History. 

Telephone repeater station (1937).  A “regulating” repeater station in Princeton, NJ, about half way between New York and Philadelphia. The coaxial equipment at the Princeton repeater station occupies the two bays in the foreground of this photograph.  Source: Princeton and National Museum of American History.

Telephone terminal (1937). The New York terminal of long-distance coaxial cable is in the Long Lines building at 32 - 6th Avenue.  Source: Bell Telephone and National Museum of American History. 

Test pattern (1996).  Image of resolution test pattern obtained with x-ray laser microscope. The test pattern consists of radial gold bars that taper down at the center to ~350 Å.  Source: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.

Tsunami (2004).  Computer model of the 26 December 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, showing the tsunami 30 minutes after it was triggered by the earthquake.  Land areas are green, with Sumatra to the right of the tsunami and India and Sri Lanka at the top of the image. The ocean floor is gray (blue in the cutaway at bottom left), with light shading to show its bathymetry.  Heights of waves and sea-floor features have been vertically exaggerated to make details easier to see.   Source: US Geological Survey.

Visual telephone (1962).  L.H. Meacham at his desk at Bell Telephone Laboratories speaks with with and views A.D. Hall on the experimental "picturephone."  Both engineers helped develop the visual telephone system.  Mr. Meacham is using the hands-free speakerphone while Mr. Hall at the Murray Hill, N.J. Laboratories uses the familiar handset for the call.  Source: Bell Telephone and National Museum of American History.

Wave height model (2004).  Ocean-wave prediction computer model provides information about potentially dangerous surf conditions resulting from storms. Source: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.