HAL 9000 - 2001 - A SPACE ODYSSEY

The 1968 film "2001 - A Space Odyssey" featured an "artificial intelligence" computer named HAL 9000. The computer was installed in a space vessel Discovery and was en route to Jupiter when it malfunctioned, killing all but one of the crew. The story is significant in that it points out that computersm if left to their own devices can be deadly.

In the mid seventies, whilst rummaging through a tea chest in a junk shop in Paddington, London, I discovered the original film prop HAL 9000 lens faceplate and the key to HAL's main processor room. The lens was missing but, after a great deal of research, I managed to obtain an identical Nikon Fish-Eye lens which fits perfectly. These important artefacts have travelled to the USA for exhibition at sci fi museums. I contacted Arthur C Clarke, the writer of the original book from which the film was derived and he was delighted that I had discovered and saved HAL and received a hand written note from him. He said he would contact Stanley Kubrick to tell him the news.

Some years later, The sequel "2010" was made and featured a female version of HAL called SAL. The abandoned Discovery ship was found and HAL re-activated.