John Vincent Atanasoff

John Vincent Atanasoff ( dʒon vinsent ata'nasɔf; born October 4, 1903 in Hamilton, New York, † June 15, 1995 in Frederick, Maryland) was an American computer pioneer. In 1973, he was court ruling in patent dispute Honeywell Inc. determined against Sperry Rand to the inventor of the first automatic electronic digital computer, a non-programmable machine for a particular purpose, which was later known as the Atanasoff -Berry Computer.

Life

John Atanasoff was the son of an electrical engineer Ivan Atanassov and mathematics teacher Iva Lucena Purdy. His father, Ivan Atanasov was, 1876, born in the village Boiadjik in Bulgaria, which was then still part of the Ottoman Empire, just before his father was killed in the April Uprising in 1876. In 1889, Ivan Atanasov emigrated with his uncle to the United States.

Atanasoff was raised by his parents in Brewster (Florida ). At the age of nine years he was able to deal with the slide rule, dealt with logarithms and then attended the Mulberry High School. In 1925 he received a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Florida with the best note.

He continued his education at Iowa State College in 1926 and received a master's in mathematics. The completion of his studies in 1930 formed a doctorate ( Ph.D.) in Theoretical Physics at the University of Wisconsin- Madison. The title of his dissertation was: The Dielectric Constant of Helium. After receiving his doctorate Atanasoff accepted a position as an assistant professor at Iowa State College in mathematics and physics.

For the calculations to his thesis Atanasoff used an electromechanical desk calculator in the Monroe Calculator Company, the then best tool. Nevertheless, the calculations were very laborious, so that Atanasoff began to search for faster methods of calculation; among other things, he dealt with the use of IBM tabulating machines to solve scientific problems. In 1936 he invented an analog computer for analysis of surface geometries. The low mechanical tolerances that were necessary for a precise solution, brought him the idea to look for digital solutions.

After Atanasoffs own statements involve different working principles of the Atanasoff -Berry Computer (ABC) back on a sudden inspiration during a drive to Rock Iceland (Illinois ) in winter 1937-1938. With funding of $ 650, which he received in September 1939, and with the help of his doctoral Clifford Berry, a prototype of the ABC in November 1939 was developed.

The basic principles of ABC have included binary arithmetic and Boolean logic to solve up to 29 linear equations. The ABC had no CPU, but it was an electronic device with electron tubes for digital computation. He also used a regenerative capacitive storage; the principle of this is found again in the DRAM memories.

John Atanasoff met John Mauchly in December 1940 at a meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Philadelphia, where Mauchly his "harmonic analyzer" introduced, an analog computer for analysis of weather data. Atanasoff told Mauchly about his new digital device and invited him to visit it. On the trip to Philadelphia Atanasoff and Berry also visited the Patent Office Washington, DC, where her research convinced her that their concepts were novel. On January 15, 1941, published in Iowa daily newspaper Des Moines Register that the ABC, " an electrical computing machine " with more than 300 electron tubes " solve complicated algebraic equations " could reported.

In June 1941 Mauchly visited Atanasoff in Ames, Iowa, to visit the ABC. During his four- day visit as a guest in the house Atanasoffs Mauchly discussed the prototypical ABC thoroughly examined him and studied Atanasoffs draft manuscript in detail. Until that time, Mauchly had not provided its plan of a digital computer. In September 1942 Atanasoff left Iowa State University to the Naval Ordnance Laboratory ( NOL ) in Washington DC take a position as head of the acoustic department. His patent application for the ABC he confided to the administration of the Iowa State College, but they never filed.

Mauchly visited Atanasoff multiple times in Washington in 1943, and discussed with him his theories on calculations, but first mentioned in early 1944 that he was working on a computer project. John Mauchly and J. Presper Eckert constructed in the years 1943-1946 the ENIAC, the first electronic computer with full purpose (general purpose ), which led two years later to a dispute as to who was the actual inventor of the computer.

In 1945, the U.S. Navy decided to build a mainframe computer, on the recommendation of John von Neumann. Atanasoff was entrusted with the management of the project and asked Mauchly to help in the formulation of job descriptions for the necessary staff. However, Atanasoff was also commissioned to design acoustic systems for monitoring of nuclear tests, and the order took precedence. When he returned in July 1946 from the tests in the Bikini Atoll, the computer Navy project was - again, on the recommendation of John von Neumann - discontinued due to lack of progress.

Mauchly and Eckert reported in 1947 a patent for a " General -Purpose Electronic Computer ", which was not granted until 1964. The patent rights were sold in 1951 to Remington Rand (now Sperry Rand ) who founded a subsidiary Illinois Scientific Developments, to demand in the 1960s, royalties from other manufacturers in the electronic data processing.

In June 1954, the patent attorney sought A. J. Etienne on behalf of IBM Atanasoffs help to break a patent by Eckert Mauchly Computer Corporation, a magnetic drum memory; he had been advised by Clifford Berry that the rotating capacitor memory of the ABC may refuted the innovative character of the Eckert - Mauchly memory. Atansoff agreed to help the attorney, but IBM finally agreed out of court with Sperry Rand, so the case was closed.

On May 26, 1967, the computer manufacturer Honeywell Inc. filed an U. S. District Court in Minneapolis, Minnesota a lawsuit against Sperry Rand, in which the validity of the ENIAC patent was challenged. The procedure, then one of the longest and most expensive in the federal courts, began on June 1, 1971 and lasted until 13 March 1972. Were 77 witnesses loaded submitted 80 affidavits and submitted 30,000 pieces of evidence. The process concluded on 19 October 1973, a judge's ruling Earl R. Larson, who declared the ENIAC patent invalid because the ENIAC have derived many basic ideas from the Atanasoff -Berry Computer. Judge Larson explicitly stated, " Eckert and Mauchly did not themselves first invent the automatic electronic digital computer, but this subject is derived from one of Dr. John Vincent Atanasoff ".

Sperry declined to appeal against this decision, but the decision was enjoying anyway little attention at this time, perhaps because it was overshadowed by the "Saturday Night Massacre " of the Watergate era, when President Richard Nixon on the following day the special prosecutor Archibald Cox dismissed. Despite not doubted court decision the ENIAC presented several publications on computer history continue to take the ABC as the first electronic digital computer dar.

After the Second World War Atanasoff was a government employee and has developed specialized seismographs and Mikrobarographen for the detection of explosions from a distance. In 1952 he founded the Ordnance Engineering Corporation, which he also directed, and in 1956 sold it to the Aerojet General Corporation, where he was president of the Atlantic Division.

1960 attracted Atanasoff and his wife Alice on her farm back on a hill in New Market (Maryland) as a pensioner. In 1961 he founded another company, Cybernetics Incorporated, Frederick ( Maryland), he still headed for twenty years. Gradually, he became involved in the litigation between the fast-growing computer companies Honeywell and Sperry Rand. After he was found in the judgment to this process as the inventor of the automatic electronic digital computer, he was warmly honored by the Iowa State College, which had been renamed in the meantime to Iowa State University; additional honors followed.

Atanasoff died after a long illness from a stroke at his home. He is buried in Pine Grove Cemetery in Mount Airy (Maryland).

Honors and Awards

Atanasoffs first national award for his scientific achievements of the Order of Saints Cyril and Methodius was first class, the highest scientific honor in Bulgaria, which he received in 1970, so given before the court decision of 1973.

In 1990, President George HW Bush awarded Atanasoff the United States National Medal of Technology, the highest U.S. award for technical achievement.

Among other honors Atanasoffs are:

• U.S. Navy Distinguished Service Award (1945 )
• Honorable Mention, Seismological Society of America (1947 )
• Honorable Mention, Admiral, Bureau of Ordnance (1947 )
• Membership in the Cosmos Club (1947 )
• Honorary doctorate from the University of Florida (1974 )
• Honorary Member of the Society for Computer Medicine (1974 )
• Iowa Inventors Hall of Fame (1978 )
• Computer Pioneer Medal from the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE ) ( 1981)
• Iowa Governor's Science Medal ( 1985)
• Order of the People's Republic of Bulgaria First Class (1985 )
• Computing Appreciation Award, EDUCOM (1985 )
• Foreign Member of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences ( 1985)
• Holley Medal, American Society of Mechanical Engineers (1985)
• Freeman of the town of Yambol, Bulgaria (1985; Atanasoffs father came from around Yambol )
• Coors American Ingenuity Award ( 1986)
• Honorary Doctor of the University of Wisconsin -Madison (1987 )

Named after Atanasoff

• Atanasoff Nunatak (a mountain peak on Livingston Iceland, South Shetland Islands, Antarctica )
• The asteroid 3546 Atanasoff, discovered by Rozhen Observatory
• Atanasoff Hall, a building of computer science at Iowa State University
• " Project Vincent ", the implementation of Project Athena at MIT at Iowa State University (named after Atanasoffs middle name )
• The John Atanasoff Award, donated by Georgi Parvanov in 2003 and awarded annually by the President of the Republic of Bulgaria to a young Bulgarians for achievements in the field of computer and information technology
• John Atanasoff Technical College in Plovdiv, a branch of the Technical University of Sofia
• John Atanasoff Bulgarian state competition in computer science and information technology, held annually since 2001 in the city of Shumen
• John Atanasoff Professional High School of Electronics in Stara Zagora, Bulgaria
• John Atanasoff vocational school for electronics in Sofia
• John Atanasoff Municipal House ( читалище, [ ʧi'taliʃte ] ) in Sofia
• John Atanasoff meetinghouse in Boiadjik, Bulgaria ( birthplace of father Atanasoffs )
• Prof. John Atanasoff Elementary School, Sofia
• John Atanasoff private high school, Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria
• John Atanasoff Professional Technical High School, Kyustendil, Bulgaria
• John Atanasoff vocational school for computer science economy Targovishte, Bulgaria
• John Atanasoff University Student Computer Club, University of Plovdiv, Bulgaria
• John Atanasoff Street, Yambol, Bulgaria
• John Atanasoff Street, Sofia