And that the principles of John
Atanasoff's computer are the basis of millions of computers and the information
revolution, without which modern society would not exist? The big breakthrough
was made by John Atanasoff who abandoned mechanics and designed electronic
circuits for calculating by use of a binary system of numbers.
That you do not know may not be an
accident given that Atanosoff’s invention plans was stolen from him in
1938 and used by Sperry Univac. He had to sue for years to prove in court that
he, and not Sperry Univac, was the true inventor of the personal computer.
In 1937, a professor of mathematics and
physics went for a long drive to Illinois during which he conceived several
ideas that still change the world. These ideas led Professor John Vincent
Atanasoff (together with his PhD assistant Clifford Edward Berry) to invent and
build the Atanasoff Berry Computer (ABC), the first DIGITAL electronic computer.
They built it in the basement of the
physics building at Iowa State College during
1939–42. He was driven by the need to solve physics problems using long numeric
equations.
Among the breakthroughs that John Atanasoff made were the
following ideas, all of which he jotted down on a napkin in
a tavern.
·
Electricity and
electronics, not mechanical methods
·
Binary numbers
internally
·
Separate memory made
with capacitors, refreshed to maintain 0 or I state
·
Direct 0-1 logic
operations, not enumeration
From these ideas, he was able to successfully build the
ABC. The ENIAC successor, and all subsequent computers, are based on these
ideas.
For memory, the ABC used electrostatic
store-drums made up of 1600 capacitors each. These capacitors are used to store
a small charge representing the 1, or on, state. The off, or 0, state was
represented by no charge. Therefore, binary numbers could be stored onto the
drums. This is the first use of the idea now known as DRAM, a modern day
technology used in today’s computers.
The ABC was a specific-use computer,
designed to solve systems of linear algebraic equations, and was capable of
solving systems with up to 29 unknowns.
What is remarkable about John
Atanasoff’s computer is that he created it on his own, with no real financial
backing from companies or the government like future projects such as the
ENIAC, EDVAC or UNIVAC.
In 1942, John Atanasoff was called on
duty and he started a defence-related position in the Naval Ordnance Laboratory
in White Oak, MD, as a theoretical physicists to work on various projects
related to mines disarming, underwater bombs, and rockets. He participated in
the atomic bomb tests at Bikini Atoll n 1946.
In 1973, after a Federal patent judge
voided a patent owned by Sperry Rand Corp. on ENIAC,
the Atanasoff-Berry Computer was credited as the first electronic digital computer. This decision put the
invention of the electronic digital computer in the public domain and granted
legal recognition to John Atanasoff as the inventor of the first electronic
digital computer.
Following World War II, John Atanasoff remained with the
government and developed specialized seismographs and microbarographs for
long-range explosive detection. In 1952, he founded and led the Ordnance
Engineering Corporation, selling the company to Aerojet General Corporation in
1956 and becoming Aerojet's Atlantic Division president.
In 1960, he and his wife Alice moved to their farm in New
Market, MD. In 1961, he started another company, Cybernetics in Frederick
that he operated for 20 years. In 1970, John Atanasoff was invited to Bulgaria (his
father John emigrated to the U.S. in 1889 at 13 from Bulgaria) by the Bulgarian
Academy of Sciences, and the Bulgarian Government conferred to him the Cyrille
and Methodius Order of Merit First Class. President George H.W. Bush awarded
him the National Medal of Science and Technology in 1990.
Inventor of the digital computer, father of the modern
computer, WWII war research victory contributor, company founder, husband,
father, immigrant’s son…the man who quietly revolutionized the world…and then
for years had to defend the theft of his invention from very powerful companies
in multiple lawsuits. His life and work contributed mightily to the American
Dream. An immigrant’s son who knew genius required grit to succeed. We all,
especially everyone who has used a computer, owe him a huge debt of gratitude.
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