Welcome
The first Hack@Brown was held April 1st, 1766.
For our 250th anniversary, we're taking a look back, and reflecting two-and-a-half centuries of good times. Join us on our journey.
1766: the Beginning
1766: The first “Hack upon Brown” is held in University Hall. Inaugural sponsors include the Providence Harbormaster and a local Baptist Church. The winning team, “Wheeley,” builds an affordable wagon wheel made of driftwood.
1797
1797: Most of Hack upon Brown 1797’s projects are fish-related. The hackathon is asked to move somewhere besides University Hall.
1840
1855
1855: The winning project is “Telecourting,” a service that lets students find dates using a telegram. Descriptions of potential spouses are sent in Morse code, and users respond “dot” to “like” or “dash” to pass.
1886
1954: the First “Computer”
1954: Brown University buys its first Digital Computer. 122 students come to the hackathon on Saturday to build on the new Computer’s capabilities: computing missile trajectories, computing prime numbers, and computing tax payments. No one returns for the second day.
1955: the Atomic Age
1955: The most-hyped technology of Hack@Brown 1955 is nuclear radiation. Winning projects include a radioactive breadbox and pair of glowing, radium-painted “Communist-Detector Goggles,” which win the US State Department-sponsored prize for “hack that disrupts anti-Americanism.”
1986: the CIT
1986: Brown breaks ground on a new building exclusively for the CS department (in retrospect, this was probably a poor idea.). The administration is excited to involve Hack@Brown in the design of the new building, and gives Hack@Brown volunteers an opportunity to design many of the CIT’s important features, such as the elevator system.
1993: @@@
1993: the @ sign is invented. It looks cool, so Hack@Brown immediately adopts it.
1994: the Internet
1984: interest in Hack@Brown spikes as Brown students wonder what exactly the Internet is.
1998: the FBI Raid
1998: Halfway into the opening ceremony, Sayles Hall is stormed by the FBI due to an unfortunate misinterpretation of the meaning of the word “hackathon.” The organizers spend the next 24 hours in custody, trying to explain that the goal of the event isn’t cyber-crime.
2000: the Bubble
2000: the tech bubble bursts. hack@brown 2000 has no sponsors, no food, and no prizes.
2005: Fox News
2005: Fox News discovers Hack@Brown, airs “investigative segment.”
2009: the Second Hackathon
2009: Penn students start their own hackathon. Founded only 242 years after Hack@Brown, it is the second ever intercollegiate hackathon.
2013
2013: Hack@Brown considers choosing a new name.
2013
2013: SexPowerGod is held for the last time in Alumnae Hall.
2014
2014: Hack@Brown is held for the first time in Alumnae Hall.
2015: Food
2015: Hack@Brown enters into the Korean-cuisine market with the acquisition of beloved food truck Mama Kim’s.
2016: 250+
We've come a long way—we're incredibly excited to see where the next 250 years will take us. Join us as we plunge headfirst into the future.
Inspire your friends
This site is mostly Nate Parrott's fault.