In 1951, high school graduate Joe Thompson, 18, was trained as one of the first two computer operators of Whirlwind, the prototype for the SAGE air defense system. David C. Brock, an historian of technology and director of the Computer History Museum Software History Center, recounts his encounter with Thompson decades later.

Brock, David C. "Meeting Whirlwind's Joe Thompson." CHM Blog, 20 February 2019.