person John Vincent Atanasoff, 1903-10-04 - 1995-06-15. An
American mathemetical physicist, and the inventor of the
Atanasoff was born on 1903-10-04 in Hamilton, New York. In
1925, he got a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical
Engineering from the University of Florida. In 1926 he
received a Master's degree in Maths from Iowa State
University. He received a PhD as a theoretical physicist from
the University of Wisconsin in 1930.
While an associate professor of mathematics and physics at
Iowa State University, Atanasoff began to envision a
digitalcomputational device, believing
analogue devices to be too
restrictive. Whilst working on his electronic
digitalcomputer, Atanasoff was introduced to a graduate student
demonstrated in December 1939. Although no patent was awarded
for the new
computer, in 1973 US District Judge Earl R.
Larson declared Atanasoff the inventor of the digital computer
(declaring the
ENIAC patent invalid).
Atanasoff was awarded the National Medal of
Technology by US
President Bush on 1990-11-13. He died following a stroke on
1995-06-15.
["Atanasoff Forgotten Father of the Computer", C. R.
Mollenhoff, Iowa State University Press 1988].
(2001-10-03)