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 »
It is crazy to think that computers were once that big!
I loved the reference to Lord of the Rings. I love that book and I love science!
i think it is awsome have far technology and computers have come!!! thanks for the great video
The Gollum impression from the Lord of the Rings is very interesting and also the ” Vacuum Tube Computing”.
Amazing episode! Can’t wait for the next one!
this is so cool i cant imagine computers took up entire rooms
It is crazy the progress we have made, it used to take an entire room to fit a computer, but now we have made a computer that can fit in your hand.
Learning about floppy disks was an interesting part of this episode; “Houston, we got an error!” Could definitely be an inside joke.
Computers have got so intreresting and it will be great to see where they can go from the big ones.
Cool! Four more until the 300th episode!
I like how computers have changed since they were first introduced
acellus world looks fun
The old computers looked so weird. I am glad we have smart people who made them better!
This is great information. Thank you for Science Live!
It’s crazy how far tech/AI has come today.
I love watching you every Wednesday.
I never thought about how precise you had to be to launch a rocket ship in to space.
If someone from the past came to see the world now I wonder what they would think. Also helo from France!
I really like this video because it talks about technology and science
This may be my favorite science live. Thank you!
A great video as always!
this was an interesting lesson!
There are some huge black wires called tubes. These tubes bring water and heats it up and then gets to a cooling tower. The cooling tower cools things down and then evaporates water back up. Old computers were very heavy at that time and had to be in a room to keep cool. Thankfully there is a new technology that was released. This new technology made a huge change to computers now instead of keeping it in a room we can use computers indoors but also cannot overheat that quick.
hey i’m from georgia.
This was a very fun lesson!
Margrets team is very impressive making all thoses codes by hand!
Man, AI is getting really advance!
Love Science Live, hello from Mississippi!
Always learn something new!
The concept is very interesting!!!
It’s hard to imagine computers beig so big! We’ve come a long way making them so compact.
Science is awesome!
Science live is always so interesting!
Those computers are super big they are very compact
This episode was super intresting, I liked the Gollum impression.
Is Acellus translated in other languages?
These videos never seem to get old, cant wait for the next one!
How long did it take to create that first huge computer?
Computers used to be huge! Wow!
Computers used to take up a whole room and now they can sit on your lap!
I thought it was really cool learning about the computers and how they work. I also thought that it was cool to see how they were sending so many satellites into space on the rocket. R51 was pretty funny too! Thank you for this week’s Science Live.
It was interesting to learn about creating data centers in space. I also enjoyed the story adout the moon rocket computer, it was amazing how the scientists developed it.
I enjoyed todays live it was so fun and cool to watch and I enjoyed talking about how the satilite was in the rocketship
Its just crazy how advanced computers have come and advanced.
I love learning about science and inventions.
A computer as a human! What!
science live is awesome!
The computer differences through out time as technology gets better interest me
I didn’t know it was that hard to land on the Moon.
I really enjoyed this science live today. It is crazy how computers where in the old days. Keep up these amazing videos.
I REALLY ENJOY SCIENCE LIVE. HOW DO WE MAKE IT WORK TODAY? WHAT WAS THE FIRSTCOMPUTER LIKE
My fourth science live, and it was great, how they explained and showed how things worked back in the day with coding and computing. Can’t wait for the next one 🙂
its crazy how small computers have gotten and how the technology has advanced.
Vacuum tubing for computers sounds so interesting
What is the world biggest computer
The Gollum impression got me hahaha
I can’t believe the computers used to be so big! I learned Alot!
Acellus World looks so fun.
The Gollum impression was spot on.
The Prodejes were funny and interesting.
Wow, that’s amazing!
I love this episode! Thank you for all the amazing information.
If you were to sew the vtc(vacuum tube computer) into a piece of clothing, would it be noticeable?
I like the stay at home switch
This topic had me asking so many questions but I loved the outer space
Its really interesting how computers have evolved and even if they used to be very big now we can carry them around easily. Thank you for today’s live!!
Hello from Kentucky! Its crazy to see that computers went from giant room filling devices to ones that fit in your lap.
its so nice to see how computers size changed thru the years
This lesson about vacuum tube computing really had me intrigued.
I love Science Live.
If people wore shirts that could record video, how would scientists make sure they protect people’s privacy but are still useful?
How did people that period really able to move those massive machines?
Always learn something new, hello from Brazil!
I think it’s so interesting the way rockets are made. Great Science Live this week!
It was very exiting to learn how computers actually work!
I like dr roger billings he is verry cool and I like how he tells stories about himself it is cool.
it was great leaning about computers and ENIAC. I didn’t expect the computer tobe so big!
How much does it cost to record a lesson for a Acellus class ?
When could we see the first AI in space ?
I liked learning about vacuum tube. I like STEM coding.
It’s so interesting to learn about how the computer actually works. Dr. Billings and Lady Pajet, what is your favorite food?
Im just now realizing how amazing a small portable computer is.
I love how they put so much humour and knowledge into one hour
Commenmt
#TRUSTMEBRO
#TRUSTMEBRO finally a real person LOL
I never knew they had to code and calculate just to land on the moon.
This was such a cool video about technology! Technology has come so far since it has been developed.
R51 is the best part
we should start a FUN train lets see how long It goes
Hi from OR!! I really liked the part with the rocket.
I love rockets and NASA since I’m 2 years old, and I found this science live video and especially the Apollo story super interesting!
How did inventioneers manage to compact the extremely big and clunky old computers into something that fits in your pocket?
I like watching science live every week!!
It’s amazing to think how far computers have come from being so big and now you could fit something in your pocket
I love learning about how things are made and how they work.
Amazing Science Live!!!!
these videos are the best
So interesting learning about early computers.
Science Live was great this week as always!
It is my first week at Acellus Academy this episode excites me very much for the future!
im absolutley loving Acellus! its been an amazing way to get my education.
Computers had been upgrading every time!
Great video topics! So hard to believe the amount of water it takes to cool a data center. Too bad space is super expensive right now but maybe the satellites will work and preserve our energy sources.
Science Live is the best!
here from South Africa! liked todays video
this was a amazing lesson thank you I loved it thank you again and have a amazing day.
Thank you for another science live
Love these every week!!
My computer is small its hard to imagine when they were that big!
i enjoyed this live, wonder what will be next
Great Video! The huge leap in technology between the very first computers to the ones we have now never fails to amaze me.
Blows my mind how they managed to compute with all those tubes.
i love this episode so much!!
I am amazed by how the put so much information on such a small device
Its really cool how far computers have come !!
I loved The part with Tobias and the part where they talked about computers.
Loved the seemstress ladies
Its really cool how far computers have come!!
what parts do u need from a vacuum to make a mcomputers?
I LOVE ACELLUS!
This is my favourite program
It’s amazing how small computers can be now! I really liked this episode!
Loved the gollum impression!
I didn’t know AI needed water
I liked the Gollum impression from The Lord of the Ring
Loved this episode! Thank you Acellus for always teaching us these interesting things. 🫶🏻
vacuum tube computing is a very cool subject to learn about.
Great science live, cant wait to watch more!
Will computers eventually be simple tech?
I like learning about computers.
I can’t believe how much computers has changed! It’s crazy to think how they used to be the size of a whole room.
Loved this lesson!!!
This episode in particular was really interesting.
This live is one of my favorites
I did not know that computers were that big before.
This great science video topic are really inspiring it has helped me learn new things
The fact that people used to use Vacuum Tubes before the intergrated circuit was created is crazy!
It is crazy how precise computers are now from then I like the lord of the rings impression. Hi I’m from Teaxs, how are y’all on this fine night?
I love how inspiration science live is!
Hi from Texas, I loved this weeks live.
I absolutely love science live
The Gollum impression from the Lord of the Rings was funny. I’ve been watching that movie with my Dad this week.
I hope to go to the event someday
Intresting i didn’t know that they uses so much electricity and resources
I’m really looking forward to more about Acellus World! R51 made me laugh as usual!
The rocket part was so cool
I love the latest ideas and inventions on Science live ! This video is so worth watching
In the 1930s when someone mentioned a computer they meant people that solved long mathematical problems that took hours or even days to solve. this was a really good episode and i am looking forward to the next one!
How could future technology solve problems that are difficult to fix today?
I never knew that Ai Data Centers needed so much power!
Hi from Nevada! Love learning from these videos
This is very inspirational i find it amazing how compters have advanced into being able to invent and create new and amazing things, this video definitely taught me something new and i cant wait for more of your video and to be able to have more knowledgeable on new and incredible things.
Computers being so big is hard to believe. This video was fun to watch.
I loved R51
David and Caleb are so creative.
This ScienceLive was my favorite one yet!
I love r51 he is so funny thank you
WHile Ai is certainly becoming more advanced, that much power could probably be used better else where. Could they allocate power to other places at all?
Science lives are always so amazing!
I love r51 he is so funny!
science live was fun today thank you for teaching me new things
Do you believe the demand of AI will contiue to prevent the shortage of RAM for future projects?
I love r51 he is so funny! Thank you Acellus for having me here!
what is vacuum tube computing?
I love learning knew things on Science LIVE!
I love learning knew things!
This episode is really cool!
I hope next week is just as interesting!!
Technology has come so far in our lifetime. The capabilities we have at our fingertips are almost endless. I like to think about George Orwells predictions and how many have come true.
It’s amazing how far we’ve come.
Science is my favorite subject.
Please keep making these they teach me alot of interesting things every week!
The Gollum impression was nice. Science is neat.
Learning about computers are fun.
I know that weaving all of those wires by hand was extremely tedious.
Very interesting to watch like always!
I love Acellus! This video was interesting!
It’s crazy that computers used to be so big, now we have ones that are so easily portable and we also have ones that are in our own pockets (iphones)!