John Vincent Atanasoff4.10.1903-15.06.1995

Biography

Atanasoff, of Bulgarian, French and Irish ancestry, was born on October 4, 1903 in Hamilton, New York.After the assassination of his grandfather during the Bulgarian April uprising John Atanasoff`s father immigrates to the US in 1889.John Atanasoff is raised by his parents in Florida. At the age of nine he learned to use a slide rule, followed shortly by the study of logarithms, and subsequently completed high school at Mulberry High School in two years. In 1925, Atanasoff received his bachelor of science degree in electrical engineering from the University of Florida, graduating with straight A's.

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 Atanasoff and his wife Alice moved to their hilltop farm in New Market, Maryland for their retirement. In 1961 he started another company, Cybernetics Incorporated, in Frederick, Maryland which he operated for 20 years. He was gradually drawn into the legal disputes being contested by the fast growing computer companies Honeywell and Sperry Rand. Following the resolution of Honeywell v. Sperry Rand, Atanasoff was warmly honored by Iowa State College, which had since become Iowa State University, and more awards followed.Atanasoff died in 1995 of a stroke at his home after a lengthy illness. He is buried in Pine Grove Cemetery in Mount Airy, Maryland.

Computer developmentPartly due to the drudgery of using the mechanical Monroe calculator, which was the best tool available to him while he was writing his doctoral thesis, Atanasoff began to search for faster methods of computation. At Iowa State, Atanasoff researched the use of slaved Monroe calculators and IBM tabulators for scientific problems. In 1936 he invented an analog calculator for analyzing surface geometry. The fine mechanical tolerance required for good accuracy pushed him to consider digital solutions. According to Atanasoff, several operative principles of the Atanasoff–Berry Computer (ABC) were conceived by the professor in a flash of insight during the winter of 1937–1938 after a drive to Rock Island, Illinois.

The first electronic digital computer was designed by him in the late 1930's and built with his graduate student, Clifford Berry, during the period 1939 to 1942 at the Iowa State College (now Iowa State University) in Ames, Iowa. The primary motivation for this first computer was to build a more effective way to figure out linear algebraic equations. At that time, analog computers were considered the best way to figure out mathematical problems. He decided to focus on digital computers as the more effective way to solve these problems. It is called the Atanasoff-Berry computer.Atanasoff said that exposure to his Dad's book on college algebra, in pre-teen years, helped him to decide to use a specific numbering system within the computer that became the standard for computers.

Atanasoff–Berry Computer (ABC)

Honors and distinctions

Atanasoff's first national award for scientific achievements was the Order of Saints Cyril and Methodius, First Class, Bulgaria's highest scientific honor bestowed to him in 1970, before the 1973 court ruling.In 1990, President George H. W. Bush awarded Atanasoff the United States National Medal of Technology, the highest U.S. honor conferred for achievements related to technological progress.

Other distinctions awarded to Atanasoff include:U.S. Navy Distinguished Service Award (1945)Citation, Seismological Society of America (1947)Citation, Admiral, Bureau of Ordnance (1947)Cosmos Club membership (1947)Doctor of Science (Honoris Causa) University of Florida (1974)Honorary membership, 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)[8]Computing Appreciation Award, EDUCOM (1985)Foreign Member of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (1985)Holley Medal, American Society of Mechanical Engineers (1985)Honorary citizen of the city of Yambol, Bulgaria (1985; Atanasoff’s father was born in Yambol region)Coors American Ingenuity Award (1986)Doctor of Science (Honoris Causa) University of Wisconsin–Madison (1987)