MIT had a transformative affect on the development and progress of computer technology in the 1950's. The History of Computing Project has an excellent timeline which demonstrates the accomplishments of people working in the labs of MIT during this time. These include the invention of the Whirlwind Computer in 1950, by Jay Forrester and Ken Olsen, the development of the binary tree technique by David A. Huffman, and the creation of the programming language LISP by John McCarthy in 1958. It was also at MIT that the word 'hack' was promulgated, by the Tech Model Railroad Club. The club was formed in 1946 and the club members referred to a hacker as "someone who applies ingenuity to create a clever result." This definition could be applied to the members of the club as well as to the emerging community of computer hackers in the 1950's and 60's. At that time, hackers were experimenting and playing with technology, challenging themselves as well as companies such as IBM to push the limits of what was possible. Scientific and political developments were converging to bring about the dawn of the Information Age. In 1958, the DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) was established as part of an overall attempt by the U.S. government to keep pace with the Soviets, particularly after the launch of Sputnik. Eleven years later, the ARPA (Advanced Research Projects Agency) created the Arpanet, in an effort to facilitate fast and easy communication between scientists.

The earliest hackers were instrumental to the development of computer technology. In his fascinating book Hackers, Paul Taylor suggests that "The first hackers were largely tolerated because their knowledge was valued and useful despite its often unusual methods of acquisition" (3). Indeed, technology progressed at MIT and at companies such as IBM and AT&T Bell Labs in the 1960's, due in part to the contributions of this "first generation" of hackers. In 1961, Fernando Corbato developed CTSS (Compatible Time Sharing System), at MIT, as the first means of remote access to a computer. That same year, a group of MIT students conceived the first interactive computer game.The creation and accomplishments of hackers in the 50's and 60's paved the way for such visionaries as Steve Wozniak, Steve Jobs, and the Homebrew Computer Club in the 1970's.