Revolutions in Biomedical Computing: The Washington University Computer Laboratories

In the 1960s, at a time when biomedical researchers had yet to fully embrace computing, the Washington University Computer Laboratories pushed the boundaries of what many thought was possible in medical research and patient care. Through the efforts of highly talented computer programmers, engineers, innovators, and researchers across the university, WashU became an international leader in the evolution of computers in medicine.

Much of the laboratories’ success stemmed from what WashU’s Biomedical Computer Laboratory founding director Jerome R. Cox Jr. described as an ability “to match technology to the problem” (Washington University Record, December 1977). This exhibit features just some of the ways in which faculty, staff, and students at WashU invested in a collaborative, multidisciplinary approach that simultaneously advanced biomedicine and computing technologies.