Vacuum Tube Computing
February 4, 2026 • EPISODE 296
How did computers go from filling entire rooms to fitting in your hand? In this episode of Science LIVE, Dr. Roger Billings and the Protégés explore vacuum tube computing and the technology that launched the digital age. Hear stories about early machines, the Billings Computer, and floppy disks as Dr. Billings shares his firsthand experiences helping shape modern computing.
About DrB
Dr. Roger Billings is a visionary innovator whose work has touched the lives of millions of students and transformed the landscape of education. Widely known as “DrB” to the countless kids who benefit from his groundbreaking Acellus learning system, Dr. Billings has dedicated his life to advancing education through technology.
As part of DrB’s lifelong commitment to supporting education, Science LIVE was launched as a way to “give back” by mentoring students in conjunction with the Roger Billings Scholarship Program.
Read more about DrB »
About the Roger Billings Scholarship Program »
amazing just amazing 🤩
Its crazy how much we have come from those early computers and how much energy AI uses now.
I loved learning about the moon mission! Can we have a whole session on it??
cool look at early computing! Vacuum tubes started it all, and hearing DrB’s firsthand stories about shaping modern tech is really Interesting!
I appreciate Acellus so much and am really thankful for homeschool. thanks so much Acellus teachers!
Here to learn more about Science. Thank you for everything you do Acellus!
Really cool video! I love learning about space.
Why were computers so large? verse why are they so small today?
How does AI use so much energy? Great Science LIve!
I cant wait to show the judges my science fair project
I love science live, the moon mission was awesome to learn about.
The Technology Spotlight by Dr. John was interesting. SpaceX was attempting to release 1 million satellites which could be powered by the electricity radiating from the sun. The reasoning behind this is to act as a orbital data center. I can’t wait for the next update!
Learning about vacuum tubes was so interesting.
Just learned that charging a phone is chemical energy. I never thought about this before. What’s next?
Debugging a new program seems like a lot of work
I really enjoyed the space and moon segment.
Here from Michigan
Live Laugh Love the Proteges
Soooo many interesting topics today! I wonder what will the future inventions would be
I didn’t realize it was that difficult to go to the moon. It’s so interesting how that works!
What a cute episode. I learned how early computers worked using vacuum tubes and early machines was interesting!
The moon mission had some interesting facts I had never considered
I really liked learning about the moon mission
I loved learning about AI and I love science!
It would be cool to visit the moon
I learned that in the old days computers were so big that they could only fit in a room. And now they are so small that they fit in my cell phone. Maybe one day they will be even smaller.
I agree that AI is very powerful. It is helpful for solving situations.
Here from Carrollton!
r 51 is the best
Seriously though
Vacuum tube computing is new to me. I had no idea how fascinating it could be.
I really think it is crazy how much water is needed for AI to work. I am very curious about this and if there is a reasonable solution.
I liked R51 and Dr.John. See you next week!
I really liked it when David, Caleb and their friends acted out the story they were telling.
This was very educational!
I can’t believe how big the AI servers / centres are! so much power and water needed to run them. Great episode!
I liked learning about the Billings Computer.
I loved learning about the mission to the moon! And how inventions are sometimes made by accident
This honestly never gets old, science lives are great!
I want to go to the science fair
I agree with you Opal the protégés are so handsome!!! I understand them well.
It was interesting to learn about how computers went from these big machines to the small devices we use today. It was cool to see the exploration of vacuum tube computing. I also liked hearing about Dr. Billings personal experiences from the early days of computing.
The pizza delivery thing was funny!
Great Episode, love the range of information you guys talk about!!
This episode is great. Thanks, Acellus!
Thank you again for another AMAZING live i had alot of fun with this one especially with the moon mission
This video was very informing and surpassed my expectations going into it.
Love the tip–if you want to be a good photographer, you gotta stay focused. So funny!!
Computers are so fascinating.
Each science live has so much knowledge to offer!!
I loved learning of how the computers came to be and what they are today.
I love the moon, space has always been a great interest of mine!
Algebra was used to create electricity. I don’t know if I’m ready for pre-algebra. Seems complex.
I love your tie!! Perfect for the moon walk facts. 🙂
that’s part of that wants to go to the moon and then there’s part of me that say NOPE!
Wow! I didn’t know that a child could cause a breakthrough!
Hi acellus i love when you show us circuits its always amazing! thank you acellus for this joyful Science Live!
I liked Dr Tobias’ segment on the moon landing.
I love learning about things I would never normally learn about. Thank you!
Learning about the microcurrents along with the tubes and electrons is so interesting!
I loved the proteges this episode everyone did amazing can’t wait for the next one!
I found it very interesting to find out how computers were condensed from taking up a whole room to being hand held.
The Billings Computer is fascinating.
I really enjoyed this weeks Science Live, was crazy to learn about the history of the computer, and how they work!
Thank you again, Dr. Roger Billings!
My mom always talks about how slow the internet was when she was in high school, and that computers have come such a long way in a short period of time
This was insanely cool! Loved talking about the moon landing!
I personally love learning about computers and how they work so I thought talking about binary coding was very cool.
This video was cool. My mom showed me one of her old floppy disks. She said they used to have to use them in class to learn how to save stuff on them like her homework. It is so cool how things are different now but I wish I could see more in the old days.
NOTICE ME R-51!! !
I like the part where Dr Tobias was talking about Margaret Hamilton and how she became a engineer.
I enjoyed David and Caleb’s segment on computers and how they work using binary code. It is hard to imagine that 0 and 1 can be used to make all the pictures, words, etc. with those numbers.
Dr. Billings is so smart. I hope that I can be that smart one day and create inventions or put ideas into place that will change the world. I cannot imagine what the world will be when I am in college!
My grandmother used floppy discs and the smaller discs when she was working on her first computer in her job. She showed me on. So interesting!
Hi from Nebraska
Another exciting and interesting Science Live. There are always so many interesting topics discussed and this week was no different. I was particularly interested in Tobias’ presentation on Data Centers and how they may be sent to space to free up area on earth and the fact that someone even thought about this? I wonder if the information would be save and how long would it remain valuable? I was also interested in learning that there was 30% more energy in space than on earth.
The information on the moon landing was also very interesting. It is amazing that something a child accidentally did while their mother was working, was helpful during the moon mission. I have read about it, but did not imagine how difficult and nerve racking that mission would have been.
Science Live is the best!
Hello from Kentucky! great video!
Thank you Roger Billings for the vid!
How did moon landing technology improve after the Buzz Aldrin moon landing to make sure that it became better and more precise?
How long did it take you to make the Billings computer?
Science Live is amazing
I learned about behind the scenes of ai’s power is because of a lot of resources like energy, tons of electricity, water, And much other resources.
Hi, my name is Ryron and I love science live
Science Live is awesome, I love it
Here from Mishawaka!
I love Science Live
This was interesting especially about the moon mission.
i love learning about space and the moon thank you for this live
I liked it to
How were radio waves discovered?
I really did enjoy about the part of the mission to the moon!
So many interesting topics on these episodes.
Who pays for all the electricity that the ai and data centers use?
That is a lot of energy! So why AI uses that much energy?
I still want both of the protégés!!! I can’t chose!! When you put both of them together, they make it so easy to understand and it’s really funny to watch! 😂🤍
So cool
I am very interested in the moon and outer space.
Hello from Tennessee
I liked the moon mission part a lot
It is a great idea to put the super computers into space considering the amount of electricity in uses.
I love this science live!
I’ve always been interested in binary code and technology so this was cool!
Love R 51
Learning about the moon landing always leaves me wanting to learn more!
I love learning about moon missions.
Its honestly so crazy how a 30-ton computer got minimized into a 3 lbs rectangle we can fit in our pocket and carry around everywhere.
How long did it take her team to write all that coding?
I liked learning about the moon landing more not much but i find space interesting
science lives are the best
Happy Valentines Day! thank you
i think is very interesting what do you can do with AI obiously you can do a lot of think but is interesting ,other think is i don’t even know the computers have they language there is a very interesting fact i’m learn to day .
The mission to the moon part was really interesting
Hey from south ga! I look forward to these lives every wednesday!
It’s so cool learning how computers work! Thank you for showing us!
This was cool!!
I love the story of the floppy disc it was very interesting
How many people did they have working to create the calculater/computer?
Vacuum tubes amaze me
It’s so interesting that accidentally pressing stuff led to a new discovery/created program. I wonder how many inventions were created due to mistakes and accidents?
Binary code, the language of computers.
Such an amazing live, science is so intriguing!
i loves the part about the mission to the moon
I love science live!!!
If always wonder about the science behind the mission to the moon, thank y’all for talking about it.
Another great video, Thank you Mr Billings!!!
Awesome learning about new things !
i liked this new science live video and how we learned about the the mission to the moon.
I love science live !
I love talking about old computers.💻
learning about the moon is so cool!
I love the video. It was awesome. Would watch again sorry it is late
I loved learning about the new digital age it was very interesting and also enjoyed the story of the floppy disc
Learned about AI, the amount of power it takes to run it, the apollo mission and the way they ran the computers then and how they worked, how computers came about.
My mom is gonna take us to the rocket launch.
I think the missions of the moon is the best part
this live was interesting i enjoyed learning about the new technology.
My brother and dad built their computers. It’s really interesting to see inside.
Why do we have to get more energy from the sun?
I think that it is interesting how scientists are trying to put ai into space.
This entire video was very interesting. AI needs a data center that uses the energy of 1.5 million homes, and the current answer for that is to shoot them into space! Also humans did math for 4 days that a computer did in 20 seconds and now that fits in our pocket but used to fill a room.
I love science live, I enjoy learning about science!
Floppy disks sound funny!
I really like the information on AI and space and also about the mission to the moon.
The Acellus world event will be in Kansas City
We learned a lot from this video
Great video this week! I really enjoy all of Dr. John’s technology talks.
I want to go to space someday! It’s so cool and beautiful.
How much money it cost to build that place with all the AI equipment? I bet was a lot of money.
Happy early valentine’s day!!!!
I enjoyed learning about the moon mission, this was one of the best science live’s so far.