A Magic carpet? Or intercontinental messenger?

What we call "The Tapestry," hanging on Jim William's living room wall, is actually the nose cone of a Minuteman missile, its circuit cards laid out end-to-end around the core memory. The Minuteman guidance system was used as a computer for student projects at MIT, where Williams - a renowned staff scientist at Linear Technology Corp. - went to school.

Because the missile was perpetually armed, Williams explained, the circuitry was immersed in liquid Freon to keep it from critically overheating. In the event the missile was launched, the coolant would be abruptly disconnected and the circuitry would have approximately 10 minutes before it burned itself up - just enough time for the missile to reach its target. Freon, it turns out, was an excellent preservative for the colorful (but now ancient) transistors, resistors and capacitors displayed here.

We are grateful to Linear Technology Corp. for treating us to this display of analog art-and-history - revealed in Planet Analog covers several times this year.