Vacuum Tube Computing
February 4, 2026 • EPISODE 296
Join Roger Billings, a technology thought leader and innovator, as he draws from his diverse range of life experiences, inspiring students of all ages to love science and to understand the value of education in empowering their life missions.
This highly motivational and informative lecture series, hosted by the International Academy of Science, is part of the Roger Billings Mentoring Scholarship.

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 »



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Its wild to me that vaccum tubes were the first electronic device
how do the wires get electricity in between the two?
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It’s interesting how vacuum tubes led to computers. Who would have thought?
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does the weather change radio waves?
Why do the positions of an electron change again, upon being seen by humans?”
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His tie is so shiny.
I didn’t know that a vacuum tube sends out electrons
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Do space data centers work more efficiently without gravity?
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It seems as though her bosses should have listened to her in the beginning, but at least they fixed the problem before the official moon landing mission.
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Tobias needs a longer segment
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mom says she would like to see a class all about strange things in nature.
please and thank you
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how do they measure the lenght of the rocket to land?
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How many times did they have to simulate the process for the project to the moon before they really got it correct?
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how big would you need a computer to run 10MB back then?
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ABSOLUTLY! I’m an West Virginian as well, and love R51!
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Question for mr billings.
what inspired you to start this whole thing?
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What is a vaccum wave?
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How many mathematicians work on space data centers?
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wow, I never knew that about radio waves!
Getting to the moon sounds very hard I’d hate to go to the moon!
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vacuum tubes are interesting
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Could it be possible to have a water-based cooling system in outer space? Would it freeze due to extremely low temperatures?
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When will the Coherer Kit be available?
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this is the best home school ever!
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the computer in space is cool.
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Going to the moon is very hard because you have to make sure the rocket won’t break down or power down because it won’t move to the spot they need to go.
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we love you
Glad they listened to the programmers. They could of had some bad issues with the Apollo mission.
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Take it easy on Elon. One of the greatest minds of our time. 🙂
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I really enjoyed hearing about the moon landing.
How large is the largest memory system
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how fo you feel about ai and the RAM shortage
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When was the last time” Houston we have a problem” quote actually said?
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And that’s why you don’t ignore woman!!!!!
What would happen if the computer was mid-run of a less important task and encountered a higher priority one? Would the less important one be immediately halted, or would it proceed at a slower pace with less power?