The DEC PDP-10 offered as part of the upcoming auction was introduced in 1971 and represents the second model of the PDP-10 family of computers. It is one of many historic machines that Mr. Allen collected and restored over the years. In 2012, he created the the Living Computers Museum to house the growing collection of vintage technology with a focus on hands-on experiences. Restoring these early computers was difficult and time consuming, and Mr. Allen often worked on them himself. He dedicated personal time to the PDP-10, coming to the museum after work at his firm Vulcan Inc. to lead a debugging session. ‘I think it was nostalgic for him,’ says Thakkar. ‘He was recreating these old memories.’

Yet it was for much more than his own benefit that Mr. Allen amassed such a vast array of historic technology. ‘These objects do not just define the history of Microsoft and what they’ve done,’ says Thakkar, ‘but also the history of technology generally and what that means for the next generation.’ These machines are a source of inspiration, allowing us to look to the past so we can imagine the future.

Imagining the future
Often called the final frontier, it is no wonder that space and interplanetary travel also captivated Mr. Allen. He invested in making space more accessible and pursued innovation through initiatives like SpaceShipOne, the Allen Telescope Array and Stratolaunch, an airplane with the world's largest wingspan. He also assembled a trove of important astronomical objects.

Mr. Allen collected the work of Chesley Bonestell, the American painter known as the ‘father of modern space art.’ Decades before man would walk on the moon, Bonestell was creating photorealistic scenes of outer space. ‘Artists like Bonestell were driven to show planetary bodies from a defined visual angle,’ says Thakkar. ‘Before, planets had been depicted from ungrounded perspectives. With Bonestell, he introduced a human point of view and opened up human imagination to the experience of space travel.’

The artist’s 1952 painting Saturn Viewed from Titan shows the ringed planet as seen from its largest moon, Titan. Bonestell had been painting astronomical scenes since 1905 when he first saw Saturn through a telescope at the Lick Observatory in San Jose. His style evolved over time into more elaborate, immersive scenes, influenced by his work as a set designer in Hollywood and his training as an architect.

While paintings like Saturn Viewed from Titan were fantasy, Bonestell’s imagined scenes influenced the iconography of real-life space travel, including the designs for the American space program.

The spacesuit cover-layer offered in the upcoming sale series is an emblem of the space age. It is an early Gemini Program model made for the astronaut Edward White, who would become the first American to conduct a spacewalk on 3 June 1965, during the Gemini 4 mission.

As a garment, it necessitated a unique blend of features: it had to function while pressurized, be resistant to extreme heat and micrometeoroids and be manoeuvrable in the cramped confines of the Gemini spacecraft. This suit was worn by Ed White in his official NASA portrait and during Gemini training.

The atomic era, the first men in space, the dawn of the computer age: each of these moments in the history of science showed the power of technology to profoundly shape contemporary life. Mr. Allen hand selected objects that capture technological advancement in all its complexity, both the benefits and the dangers. He believed in the power of technology as a force for good, and his collection invites us to consider the impact of the greatest discoveries of the 20th century and to imagine what might come next. ‘In my own work, I’ve tried to anticipate what’s coming over the horizon, to hasten its arrival, and to apply it to people’s lives in a meaningful way,’ said Mr. Allen. This collection honours the visionaries who have come before and offers inspiration to the next generation of innovators.