I, too, am a nerd and a technological historian of sorts. Looking back at the milestones in history that have shaped our current technological world, one would definitely have to include at least two: the transistor and the 4004.

I still remember the moment I first learned about the first microprocessor — I was lounging on my bed reading an electronics magazine — I forget exactly which one — and spotted a little picture of an IC die. The one paragraph caption gave the essential details, but failed to speculate on what a revolution it would spawn.

I have a collection of emulators for various computing systems, including the PDP-8, IBM 1401, and even EDSAC. I don’t think I’ve got one for the 4004, but I have an itch to write my own. In the immortal words of Spock, “Fascinating.”

Thanks for the interesting article.