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 »
Love R51! Thanks for teaching me how to count vacuum tubes! Hello from California, I just got back home from going to Yellow Stone National Park!
It is incredible how much power the AI data centers take to run.
It is so cool that a 4 year old playing gave the idea for a warning system for astronauts!
That’s so cool how there is a computer language . #Binary.
This was my favorite science live so far!
Thank you for all of the great opportunities you have given me Acellus.
This was a fun one.
technology is so cool!
The little girl was right!!!!!!!!!!!!!
8Accidentally bumping a switch would have been terrible if it was a real mission.
Computers are so cool!
This science live was great!
I love these I have watched every single one.
I loved learning about computers, so cool!
How do you see computer technology advancing in the future?
I loved talking about science and technology!
Science video is very informative and fun to learn.
Science live is awesome! Thanks!
It was so fun learning new things fron the science live!
I loved learning about airplanes and computers! :3
Science live is very fun!
I love learning about Vaccum Tubes!
Awesome story about the floppy disks!!
The proteges are great as always.
I love science live!!
That’s very cool with the computers!
Loved hearing you talk about space!
What is Acellus world? What is ai? Have people ever been to the moon before? What is algebra? What is college? What is a vacuum tube?
the airplanes are very intresting! They have many things to them I never knew
I never knew teh difference between RAM and ROM. I enjoyed the story of how they made the safety switch.
thanks Acellus
well that’s very cool about the Acellus world
It was interesting how many books they wrote from the computer that stacked higher then the lady.
I love learning from science live.
Wow! That was so interesting! I can’t wait for next week!
The proteges are so awesome
yall are so funny i love science live
The air plane pizza was my favorite part.
I loved learning about computers as well as the space part.
Great video today Accellus
Hi from Texas.
hello all the way from TN
loved this!! learning about vacuums and space is so cool and interesting!
science live in person!!
that was cool how the computer works
I love how Dr.John is always teaching me something new. Electricity is vital in artificial intelligence.
Hello from Texas! love learning about computers thank you!
I love this science class so much! Thank you all for putting so much time and energy into this program.
why would they choose 1’s and 0’s why not other numbers?
I love the protoeges
Dr.Billing what other things have you invented?
It’s really surprising that in the past computers weren’t tech but people.
I got to see the February snow moon it was so pretty!! I saw it from my window the moon was orange the reason why it was orange is because smoke and dust particles in the atmosphere scatter the blue and green wave langths of light allowing the moon to give off its orange color!!
This was so amazing. I love 💗 this show and you’re so amazing
Such an amazing video these videos are always amazing and I always learn so many knew things.
Great live! I love learning about computers and space!
The part about computers was so interesting!
Hi from North Carolina!
I’m tuning in from Indiana! I love Acellus and science live!
Science Live is so good
how did the weaving binary code work?
this was very interesting. Thank you for doing these each week
Is there a way we could get rid of all the space debris that aren’t in used before sending more into our atmosphere?
I love learning about computers.
I know! I loved learning about the computers!!!
you know this was acctuually a good episode on computers
Loved the pizza delivery. Amazing as always!
The Proteges actually answered a very good question I have wondered for a while. Though I ask how one would program new code out of the ones and zeroes of binary?
Never would have guessed you made floppy discs. That’s pretty cool.
Can I make a simple computer by my self?
Who made the binary code?
Is there an Acellus course that talks more about binary?
I like Dr RB
i like when the airplanes come in.
Science is so cool!
it was amazing learning about computers
Learning the computers and space was very cool.
how do you get hearing from the phone to a another phone if you are like 300 miles away?
Inventors are so cool!
it was awsome learning about computers
Computers are awesome.
loved learning about the computers.
I love vacuum tubes
could we learn some more on how computers work
Interesting lesson about vacuum tube computing. It is amazing how early computers worked before modern technology.
that was so funny! love computers. love to watching DrB
It’s crazy how far technology has come from when it was first invented to now.
I never new technology was so cool!!! I think the moon is so cool as well!!! I love watching David and Caleb too!( and r51 of course!)
This week’s Science Live was great!
wow that’s really cool how they did that!!
I liked the proteges part
Great episode! I love learning!
This made early computing very easy for people to use .
This live was so cool, learning about computers is cooler than I thought.
That was a great science live
We are so lucky that computers are so much smaller than they were when they began. My mom is always saying, “You kids are so lucky.” Didn’t understand that comment, really, because I don’t know a world without computers.
thank you so much computers are so cool!!!!!!!!!!!!
Space is so awesome to learn about.
Before transistors, there were vacuum tubes. So, the basis of the transistor has replaced yesterday’s bulky vacuum tubes with today’s tiny silicon chips which I thought was every interesting . I really enjoyed the video
I love how Creative Science live can get! Also I love R-51 he is so hilarious. 🙂
Very excited for the new conspiracy course!
Putting the ai servers in space is a great idea! But, they will need to shield from solar radiation.
The world is full of computers from big to small.
the story about Apollo 11 was interesting.
the change of computers was great
The vacuum tubes had got me hooked. I might use them for my 2027-2028 space mission.
It’s really cool hearing how involved AI is getting!
I loved talking about space and learning more about technology!
How long did take engineers to invent AI?
hi From Florida! This was such a cool video and I learned so much about computers and ai.
I loved this weeks video and I thought that it was funny and exciting to watch.
Learning about the first calculator was very fascinating. Here from Texas
why don’t they just find a different cooling system?
Funny how Margaret Hamilton‘s four-year-old daughter who accidentally flipped the pre-launch switch playing with the simulator caused Margaret to want to launch a plan for in case an astronaut accidentally bumped a switch. They should have listened to her at that time.
Hi my fav part was when David and Caleb was watching the movie and eating popcorn.
I thought the airplanes were going to explode but they were actually delivering a pizza😂😂
Loved this episode thank you for sharing it.
Hi from Alabama
Thanks for these science lives! Really entertaining!
I loved this weeks episode with the Protegees. Have a great weekend.
Evaporated cooling…wow!
These science live videos are awesome! I love that we have these every week and learn different things each week. I love Acellus!!!
Wow computers are very interesting to learn about.
I really enjoyed this science live thank you
did humans actually go to the moon?
Would putting AI on the moon work better than orbit?
Can the conspiracy theories class include one about the theory of the world being flat, and that space might not exist?
can you deliver my pizza too?? (lol!!)
Hi I’m Ally I’m watching from New Jersey! I really liked when Dr. Tobias was talking about the first time someone landed on the moon. Thank you science live!
we use computers everyday
Computers are so cool!
Learning about how they got to the moon was very interesting. Here from Texas
You stated that the computers are doing computations all the time and learning. What are these computers learning, and how is that knowledge used?
it was cool to learn how computers work . It is so amazing how complex one really is!
R51 so cute
can’t wait to see what’s on today’s video!
I didn’t know computers were so complicated, it’s crazy how advanced they have become.
I love it. I love learning about technology . I think they are COOL!!!.
Enjoyed the technology video today
Blue screen of death…NOOOOOO!!!!
AI always makes me impressed and it would be cool to send AI to space but wouldn’t it make more space junk for future space exploration???? Spaceships are interesting, and I didn’t know it was that hard to get to the moon!!!! I love computers, always had. Nice video
I didn’t know the black tubes were used for water cooling.
I learned more about computers and the little details.
Vacuum tube computing was an early stage in the development of computers, mainly used from the 1940s to the 1950s. Vacuum tubes acted as switches and amplifiers that controlled the flow of electricity inside the computer. These computers were very large, used a lot of energy, and produced a lot of heat, which made them unreliable and expensive to maintain.
R 51 is hilarious! Loved watching this episode
I love this science live! Computers are so awesome.
I really enjoy learning about technology. the advancements are so cool.
It’s so cool that we are so dedicated to making things work that we keep trying for the perfect method for it to properly funtion and making sue that we little thing is done correctly.
Thank you Science Live for teaching me more about computers, I didn’t know that the first computer was used for math! Super cool!
Computers amaze me in so many ways, I always wonder how coding was created. I bet one day ill find out!
;3
The Moon landing was not a easy job!
I didn’t know that vacuum tubes could comput!
Is there a way to build a computer not using the pixels?
that was very fun I hope they make new technology.
awesome as always!
I enjoyed Science Live this week.
I’m excited to see where we go with this!!
I think that science live could be better if what your talking about you brought in something that was about that
i love all of these acelluse videos they are so cool
I love vacuum tubes. They are so useful.
hello from Virginia! This episode was very interesting per usual, I found the clips of acellus world to be really entertaining!
Thank you Science live for teaching me more about computers, I didn’t know that the first computer was use for math super cool
Listening from North Carolina!
Thank you for the video! This week’s episode was great!
Another great week of science live keep it up!
Vacuum tube computing is really cool!
The women who weaved memory into the program was my favorite part!
I loved what Dr. Tobias talked about!
did people actually land on the moon
The development of technology over time is really interesting
Thanks for another science live.
Thank you for providing science lives for us. I enjoy learning new things!
The evolution of computers is crazy.
Learning about AI was super cool
Roger Billings son is funny, and I loved the airplane skit.
hi everyone my fav part of science live is the part with r51