Silicon Graphics powered Jurassic Park’s dinosaurs, and Google now occupies its old campus.
Jim Clark, a Stanford professor, built a chip that let computers draw in three dimensions, and George Lucas and Steven Spielberg were among his first customers. For eight straight years every film nominated for the visual-effects Oscar was made on the company’s machines. Then cheap PCs caught up, and in 2009 what was left sold for $42.5 million.
Silicon Graphics on Brandseum