2. 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.
3. 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.
4.
5. Computer development
Partly 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.
6. 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.
8. 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.
9. 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)
