The Atanasoff-Berry Computer was the first electronic digital computer [1]. It was built by Dr. John Vincent Atanasoff and Clifford E. Berry at Iowa State University during 1937-42. The Atanasoff-Berry Computer represented several innovations in computing, including a binary system of arithmetic, parallel processing, regenerative memory, and a separation of memory and computing functions. It is sometimes referred to by its initials, ABC. Atanasoff Berry Computer was the first modern computer to use binary math and electronic circuits - that is nowadays what we use in all modern computers - History of computing. The binary numeral system represents numeric values using two symbols, typically 0 and 1. More specifically, binary is a positional notation with a radix of two. Owing to its relatively straightforward implementation in electronic circuitry, the binary system is used internally by virtually all modern computers. John Vincent Atanasoff (October 4, 1903 – June 15, 1995) was a prominent American computer engineer of Bulgarian origin. ... Clifford Berry (1918 - 1963) helped John Vincent Atanasoff create the first digital electronic computers in 1939 - the Atanasoff Berry Computer (ABC). ... Iowa State University (ISU) is a public land-grant university and space-grant university located in Ames, Iowa. ... Parallel computing is the simultaneous execution of the same task (split up and specially adapted) on multiple processors in order to obtain faster results. ... Dram can mean several things: for the imperial unit of volume see dram (volume) for the imperial unit of weight or mass see avoirdupois and apothecaries system of mass for the Armenian monetary unit see dram (currency) DRAM is a type of RAM and unlike dram is spelled in all... The history of computing is longer than the history of computing hardware and modern computing technology and includes the history of methods intended for pen and paper or for chalk and slate, with or without the aid of tables. ... The binary numeral system represents numeric values using two symbols, typically 0 and 1. ... 0 (zero) or nought is both a number and a numeral. ... Look up one in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Positional notation is a system in which each position has a value represented by a unique symbol or character. ... The radix (Latin for root), also called base, is the number of various unique symbols (or digits or numerals) a positional numeral system uses to represent numbers. ... 2 (two) is a number, numeral, and glyph. ... An electrical network or electrical circuit is an interconnection of analog electrical elements such as resistors, inductors, capacitors, diodes, switches and transistors. ... A computer is a device or machine for processing information from data according to a program — a compiled list of instructions. ...

John Vincent Atanasoff was awarded the National Medal of Technology by President George H. W. Bush in a Ceremony at the White House on November 13, 1990. The National Medal of Technology is an honor granted by the President of the United States to inventors and innovators that have made significant contributions to the development of new and important technology. ... George Herbert Walker Bush (born June 12, 1924) was the 41st President of the United States (1989–1993). ...

Presper Eckert and John Mauchly were the first to patent a digital computing device, the ENIAC computer. A patent infringement case (Sperry Rand Vs. Honeywell, 1973) voided the ENIAC patent as a derivative of John Atanasoff's invention. Atanasoff was quite generous in stating, "there is enough credit for everyone in the invention and development of the electronic computer." Eckert and Mauchly received most of the credit for inventing the first electronic-digital computer. Historians now say that the Atanasoff-Berry computer was the first.

The Atanasoff-Berry Computer, constructed in the basement of the Physics building at Iowa State University, took over two years to complete due to lack of funds. The prototype was first demonstrated in November of 1939. The computer weighed more than seven hundred pounds (320 kg). It contained approximately 1 mile (1.6 km) of wire, 280 dual-triode vacuum tubes, 31 thyratrons, and was about the size of a desk. http://www. ... http://www. ... In electronics, a vacuum tube (American English) or (thermionic) valve (British English) is a device generally used to amplify, or otherwise modify, a signal. ... A thyratron is a type of gas filled tube used as a high energy electrical switch. ...

It was not a stored program machine, which distinguishes it from later, more general machines, such as the 1946 ENIAC, 1949 EDVAC, the University of Manchester designs, or Alan Turing's post-War designs at NPL and elsewhere. The so-called von Neumann architecture is a model for a computing machine that uses a single storage structure to hold both the set of instructions on how to perform the computation and the data required or generated by the computation. ... ENIAC ENIAC, short for Electronic Numerical Integrator And Computer, was long thought to have been the first electronic computer designed to be Turing-complete, capable of being reprogrammed by rewiring to solve a full range of computing problems. ... Bold text EDVAC (Electronic Discrete Variable Automatic Computer) was one of the earliest electronic computers. ... The Victoria University of Manchester (almost always referred to as simply the University of Manchester) was a university in Manchester in England. ... Alan Turing is often considered the father of modern computer science. ... The National Physical Laboratory (NPL) is the national measurement standards laboratory for the United Kingdom, based at Bushy Park in Teddington, near London. ...

The machine was, however, the first to implement three ideas that are still part of every modern computer:

1. Using binary digits to represent all numbers and data
2. Performing all calculations using electronics rather than wheels, ratchets, or mechanical switches
3. Organizing a system in which computation and memory are separated.

In addition, the computer pioneered the use of regenerative capacitor memory, as in the DRAM still widely used today. The binary numeral system represents numeric values using two symbols, typically 0 and 1. ... Two digital voltmeters The field of electronics is the study and use of systems that operate by controlling the flow of electrons or other electrically charged particles in devices such as thermionic valves and semiconductors. ... Computation can be defined as finding a solution to a problem from given inputs by means of an algorithm. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... Dram can mean several things: for the imperial unit of volume see dram (volume) for the imperial unit of weight or mass see avoirdupois and apothecaries system of mass for the Armenian monetary unit see dram (currency) DRAM is a type of RAM and unlike dram is spelled in all...

The machine was examined by John Mauchly in June 1941, and is alleged to have influenced his later work on ENIAC. Mauchly denied this, but his visit to see Atanasoff and the ABC was the basis for a court decision invalidating the ENIAC patent. John William Mauchly (August 30, 1907 – January 8, 1980) was an American physicist and computer engineer who, along with J. Presper Eckert, designed ENIAC, long held to be the first electronic digital computer, and UNIVAC I, the first commercial computer made in the United States. ... 1941 was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ...

This court case was brought by Honeywell against Sperry Rand in 1967. The ENIAC computer was found to be derived from the ABC and the patent was invalidated. The court released its final judgement on October 19, 1973. The decision was not appealed. Honeywell NYSE: HON is a major American multinational corporation that produces electronic control systems and automation equipment. ... 1967 was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

The memory of the Atanasoff-Berry Computer was a pair of drums, each containing 1600 capacitors that rotated on a common shaft once per second. The capacitors on each drum were organized into 32 "bands" of 50 (30 active bands and 2 spares in case a capacitor failed), giving the machine a speed of 30 additions/subtractions per second. Data was represented as 50-bit binary fixed point numbers. The electronics of the memory and arithmetic units could store and operate on 60 such numbers at a time (3000 bits). Various types of capacitors A high voltage (15 kV AC) capacitor A capacitor is a device that stores energy in the electric field created between a pair of conductors on which equal but opposite electric charges have been placed. ...

The AC power line frequency of 60 Hz was the primary clock rate for the lowest level operations. It has been suggested that Electric reactance be merged into this article or section. ... The hertz (symbol Hz) is the SI unit of frequency. ...

The logic functions were fully electronic, implemented with vacuum tubes. The family of logic gates ranged from inverters to two and three input gates. The input and output levels and operating voltages were compatible between the different gates. Each gate consisted of one inverting vacuum tube amplifier, preceded by a resistor divider input network that defined the logical function. A logic gate is an arrangement of electronically-controlled switches used to calculate operations in Boolean algebra. ...

Although the Atanasoff-Berry Computer was an important step up from earlier computing machines, it was not a stored program computer. An operator was needed to operate the control switches to set up its functions, much the way boot programs would be entered in later computers. Selection of the operation to be performed, reading, writing, converting to or from binary to decimal, or reducing a set of equations was made by front panel switches and in some cases jumpers. The so-called von Neumann architecture is a model for a computing machine that uses a single storage structure to hold both the set of instructions on how to perform the computation and the data required or generated by the computation. ... A BOOTING is any exercise of the verb to boot. ...

There were two forms of input and output. Primary user input and output and an intermediate results output and input. The intermediate results storage allowed operation on problems too large to be handled entirely within the electronic memory.

Intermediate results were written onto paper sheets by electrostatically modifying the resistance at 1500 locations to represent 30 of the 50 bit numbers. Each sheet could be written or read in one second. The reliability of the system was limited to about 1 error in 100,000 calculations by these units, primarily attributed to lack of control of the sheets' material characteristics. In retrospect a solution could have been to add a parity bit to each number as written. This problem was not solved by the time Atanasoff left the university for war-related work.

Primary user input was via standard punched cards and output via a front panel display. The punch card (or Hollerith card) is a recording medium for holding information for use by automated data processing machines. ...

The ABC was designed for a fairly specific purpose, the solution of systems of simultaneous linear equations. It could handle systems with up to twenty-nine equations, which was large for the time. Problems of this scale were becoming common in physics, the department in which John Atanasoff worked. Basically, it could be fed two linear equations with up to twenty-nine variables and a constant term and eliminate one of the variables. This process would have to be repeated manually for each of the equations, which would result in a system of equations with one fewer variables. Then the whole process would have to be repeated to eliminate another variable.

The initial funds to start development and demonstrate the circuits involved was from the Agronomy department which was also interersted in such problems for economic and research analysis. Further funding to complete the machine came from Research Corporation of America, in New York. ... State nickname: Empire State Other U.S. States Capital Albany Largest city New York City Governor George Pataki (R) Senators Charles Schumer (D) Hillary Rodham Clinton (D) Official languages None (English is de facto) Area 141,205 km² (27th)  - Land 122,409 km²  - Water 18,795 km² (13. ...

The original ABC was eventually dismantled, when the University converted the basement to classrooms, and most of its pieces were discarded. In 1997, a team of researchers from Ames Laboratory (located on the Iowa State campus) finished buiding a working replica of the Atanasoff-Berry Computer for a cost of $350,000. This replica dispelled any doubt over whether or not the ABC actually could perform the tasks it was designed to do. The new ABC is now on permanent display in the first floor lobby of the Durham Center for Computation and Communication at Iowa State University. 1997 is a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Ames Laboratory is a United States Department of Energy national laboratory located in Ames, Iowa. ...

References

Anthony Ralston and Edwin D. Reilly (ed), Encyclopedia of Computer Science, 3rd Ed. , 1993, Van Nostrand Reinhold, New York ISBN 0442276796

Clark R. Mollenhoff, Atanasoff: Forgotten Father of the Computer, 1988, ISBN 0-8138-0032-3 Clark R Mollenhoff (April 16, 1921-1991) was a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist, lawyer, and columnist for the Des Moines Register. ... 1988 is a leap year starting on a Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

See also: History of computing hardware Computing hardware has been an essential component of the process of calculation and data storage since it became useful for numerical values to be processed and shared. ...

External links

• The Birth of the ABC
• Rebuilding the ABC
• The ENIAC patent trial