In 1947, engineers stared at the room‑sized Harvard Mark II computer in frustration as it kept malfunctioning. They finally opened a panel and discovered a moth wedged inside an electromechanical ...

On the evening of September 9, 1947, a strange silence fell over the Harvard Computation Laboratory. The Mark II electromechanical computerâ a colossal machine of whirring motors, clacking relays, and ...

The New York Times article, “Hegseth Says Defense Department Will Cut Ties With Harvard,” spurred me to write this article. It has taken me over 50 years to figure out that I’m in the business of ...

A moth trapped in the Harvard Mark II computer in 1947 inspired the term “bug” in computing. Insects like wasps can block aircraft sensors, causing serious flight hazards and even deadly crashes.