From the Archives

Published Sept. 20, 2018

Today’s computers come with terabytes of storage. In this undated photo, you can see a student working on a computer with two floppy-disk drives, which were popular in the 1970s and 1980s. Most programs and files were not loaded onto a computer, but were saved on and run from floppy disks. Do you recognize anyone in this photo? Do you have an interesting story about using floppy disks? Let us know at paw.princeton.edu.

4 Responses

Jonathan Blake ’86

5 Years Ago

Re the Oct. 3 From the Archives photo: That is electrical engineering and computer science professor Bruce Arden in the middle. Seated is Iain Bason ’87, and standing there looking slightly bemused is me. I showed up that day at the EQuad with a shirt I just got from Penn State (I was on the Ultimate Frisbee team, and we had just played in a tournament there). The photographer said I couldn’t be in the picture wearing something from another school, so I turned it inside out, crossed my arms, and hoped for the best. This would have been around 1985.

Editor’s note: Also writing to identify those shown in the photo were Bill Rosenblatt ’83, Jim Fehrle ’79, and Professors Michael Littman and Robert Stengel.

Jonathan Blake ’86

5 Years Ago

That is indeed EECS professor Bruce Arden in the middle. Seated is Iain Bason '87, and standing there looking slightly bemused is me. I showed up that that day at the EQuad with a shirt I just got from Penn State (I was on the Ultimate Frisbee team, and we just played in a tournament there). The photographer said I couldn't be in the picture wearing something from another school, so I turned it inside out, crossed my arms, and hoped for the best. This would have been around 1985.

Bill Rosenblatt ’83

6 Years Ago

I believe the student on the right is Stuart Schulman '84. The gentleman in the middle is Professor Bruce Arden. I don't know who the student seated at the computer is.

Jim Fehrle ’79

6 Years Ago

EECS Professor Bruce Arden with, I believe, Karl Danz '79 (left) and Peter Allen '79 (right).

Join the conversation

Plain text

Full name and Princeton affiliation (if applicable) are required for all published comments. For more information, view our commenting policy. Responses are limited to 500 words for online and 250 words for print consideration.

Related News

Newsletters.
Get More From PAW In Your Inbox.

Learn More

Title complimentary graphics