The picture is included with other material contributed by the Department of Energy's (DOE) Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) to be placed in the time capsule, which is Roane County's contribution to the Bicentennial Mall.
In the picture are students Casey Will, Heidi Obidzinski, Matthew Yu, Billy Brasel and Jamie Jones and teacher David Staten. The group is converged around a computer as part of the Oak Ridge Educational Network (OREN) and Adventures in Supercomputing (AiS) programs, which are funded by DOE and ORNL. The latter manages the two programs.
The time capsule will be buried around April 1, 1996. The mall is scheduled to be dedicated June 1, 1996, to commemorate the 200th anniversary of Tennessee's statehood. The capsule will be opened 100 years later in 2096 when the Volunteer State celebrates its Tricentennial.
"We believe a picture with a computer is appropriate because it will allow those living in 2096 to see what one of the early computers looked like," said Tom Row, assistant to the director of ORNL. "Our other contributions to the capsule will also reflect the technology of our time."
Other ORNL contributions are a sample of lead-indium phosphate glass developed at ORNL's Solid State Division, components of an alloy used in the construction of an artificial hip joint partly developed at ORNL, a piece of insulation tested in ORNL's Buildings Technology Center, a sample of melted soil as a result of the ground heating process of in situ vitrification performed at ORNL and a custom-designed integrated circuit developed at ORNL for use in computers.
ORNL, one of DOE's multiprogram national research and development facilities, is managed by Lockheed Martin Energy Research Corp.