john vincent atanasoff

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john vincent atanasoff - Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (26 May 2007) :

  John Vincent Atanasoff
  Atanasoff, John Vincent
  John Atanasoff
  
     <person> John Vincent Atanasoff, 1903-10-04 - 1995-06-15.  An
     American mathemetical physicist, and the inventor of the
     electronic digital computer.  Between 1937 and 1942 he built
     the Atanasoff-Berry Computer with Clifford Berry, at the
     Iowa State University.
  
     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 digital
     computational device, believing analogue devices to be too
     restrictive.  Whilst working on his electronic digital computer
     , Atanasoff was introduced to a graduate student
     named Clifford Berry, who helped him build the computer.
  
     The first prototype of the Atanasoff-Berry Computer was
     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.
  
     John Vincent Atanasoff and the Birth of the Digital Computer (http://cs.iastate.edu/jva/jva-archive.shtml)
     .
  
     ["Atanasoff Forgotten Father of the Computer", C. R.
     Mollenhoff, Iowa State University Press 1988].
  
     (2001-10-03)