The Happenings department reports on past, present,and future events that are of interest to the history of computing. These events include conferences, appropriate sessions from meetings, exhibits, projects, awards, publications, collections, general memorabilia, and important dates in the history of computing. Contributions to the department are encouraged, and should consist of a description or report of the event, highlighting its specific relevance. Sections are titlesd: John Backus, Developer of Fortran, Receives the Charles Stark Draper Prize; Retired IBM Scientist John Cocke Wins Medal of Science; and Computer Pioneer Award: Willis Ware