The Guide
The Guide
The first meeting was organized by John Fitzallen Moore and Walter
Marvin in November 1946.[2] Moore and Marvin had membership cards
#0 and #1. They served as the first president and vice-president
respectively, and switched these roles the following year.
Circa 1948, the club obtained space in Room 20E-214, on the third
floor of Building 20, a "temporary" World War II-era structure,
sometimes called "the Plywood Palace,"[3] which had been home to
the MIT Radiation Lab during World War II.
The club's members, who shared a passion to find out how things
worked and then to master them, were among the first hackers.
[1]
Some of the key early members of the club were Jack
Dennis and Peter Samson, who compiled the 1959 Dictionary of the
TMRC Language[4] and who are credited with originating the concept
"Information wants to be free".[5] The atmosphere was casual;
members disliked authority.[citation needed] Members received a key to the
room after logging 40 hours of work on the layout.[6]
John McCarthy
Jack Dennis
Peter Deutsch
Alan Kotok
Richard Greenblatt
John Fitzallen Moore
Peter Samson
'Slug' Russell