Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => The O' Club => Topic started by: pugsly on September 22, 2003, 06:38:19 PM
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Who was the FIRST inventor of the computer?
I will give you a clue.
My best friends grandfather.
And it would have been his 100th bithday on oct 4th 2003
so while we all sit back and enjoy this thing we call a computer lets give thanks to the man who started the whole thing.
Happy birthday John Vincent
http://tangra.bitex.com/eng/atanasoff.htm
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?????? :rofl
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who is Al Gore?!
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His name was Charles Babbage and he lived in the 1600s :p
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calling someone 'inventor of the computer' is exactly like saying 'al gore created the internet'
Too many people played critical roles for any one person to be credited.
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If you botherd to read the website you would have seen that he invented the computer as we know it!
in other words one using the binary system and electrical circutry
to make the switchs work. THE ELECTRONIC DIGITAL COMPUTER
I just thought you people would like to know who is responsable for this wonderfull machine we all enjoy so much.
try reading you might learn something:D
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http://www.cs.iastate.edu/jva/jva-archive.shtml
http://www.scl.ameslab.gov/ABC/Progress.html
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that apple leader guy made the first commercial home computer...and comparing the apple 1 to modern pc's is like comparing a formula 1 class ferrari to the model T...
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Professor John Atanasoff and graduate student Clifford Berry built the world's first electronic-digital computer at Iowa State University between 1939 and 1942. 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.
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.
"It was at an evening of scotch and 100 mph car rides," John Atanasoff told reporters, "when the concept came, for an electronically operated machine, that would use base-two (binary) numbers instead of the traditional base-10 numbers, condensers for memory, and a regenerative process to preclude loss of memory from electrical failure.”
John Atanasoff wrote most of the concepts of the first modern computer on the back of a cocktail napkin. He was very fond of fast cars and scotch.
Atanasoff-Berry Computer
In late 1939, John Atanasoff teamed up with Clifford Berry to build a prototype. They created the first computing machine to use electricity, vacuum tubes, binary numbers and capacitors. The capacitors were in a rotating drum that held the electrical charge for the memory. The brilliant and inventive Berry, with his background in electronics and mechanical construction skills, was the ideal partner for Atanasoff. The prototype won the team a grant of $850 to build a full-scale model. They spent the next two years further improving the Atanasoff-Berry Computer. The final product was the size of a desk, weighed 700 pounds, had over 300 vacuum tubes, and contained a mile of wire. It could calculate about one operation every 15 seconds, today a computer can calculate 150 billion operations in 15 seconds. Too large to go anywhere, it remained in the basement of the physics department. The war effort prevented John Atanasoff from finishing the patent process and doing any further work on the computer. When they needed storage space in the physics building, they dismantled the Atanasoff-Berry Computer.
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John Vincent Atanasoff was born on 4 October 1903 in Hamilton, New York. He is the inventor of the electronic digital computer. He is, along with being an Inventor, a Mathematical Physicist and a Businessman.
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Education: He graduated from the University of Florida in 1925 with a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering. In 1926 he received his master's degree in mathematics from Iowa State College. In 1930 he received a Ph.D. as a theoretic physicist at the University of Wisconsin. He became an associate professor of mathematics and physics at Iowa State College in 1936.
Professional Experience: Iowa State College, Mathematics, Graduate Assistant and Instructor, 1926-29; University of Wisconsin, Mathematics, Instructor, 1929-30; Iowa State College, Mathematics and Physics, Assistant Professor, 1930-36, Associate Professor, 1936-42, Professor in Absentia, 1942-45; U.S. Naval Ordnance Lab., Washington, D.C., Chief, Acoustics Section, 1942-1945, Chief, Acoustics Division, 1945-48; U.S. Army Field Forces, Ft. Monroe, VA, Chief Scientist, 1949; Naval Ordnance Lab., Director, Fuse Program, 1949-52; The Ordnance Engineering Corp., Frederick, MD, Founder, President, Director, 1959-61; Cybernetics, Inc., Frederick, MD, President, 1961-80; Stewart-Warner Corp., Consultant, 1961-63; Control Data Corp., Consultant 1967-71; Honeywell, Consultant, 1967-71
Honors and Awards: U.S. Navy Distinguished Service Award (Navy's highest honor awarded to civilians), 1945; Citation, Seismological Society of America, 1947; Citation, Admiral, Bureau of Ordnance, 1947; Cosmos Club membership, 1957; Order of Cyril and Methodius, First Class, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (Bulgaria's highest honor accorded a scientist), 1970; Iowa Inventors Hall of Fame; Plaque, Iowa State University Physics Building, 1974; Honorary Membership, Society for Computer Medicine, 1974; Doctor of Science, Moravian College, 1981; Distinguished Achievement Citation, Iowa State University Alumni Association, 1983; Doctor of Science, Western Maryland College; National Medal of Technology given by President George Bush, 1990
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John Vincent Atanasoff is the first son of John Atanasoff and Iva Lucena Purdy. At a very early age, John Vincent Atanasoff had a great interest in mathematics. When John Vincent was about ten years old, he was curious in a Dietzgen slide rule that his father had bought. John Vincent read the instructions on how to use the slide rule, and he became more interested in the mathematical principles of the slide rule. With the help of his mother, John Vincent began to study a college algebra book that belonged to his father.
In the years that followed, John Vincent's family moved to Old Chicora, Florida. John Vincent studied at Mulberry High School and graduated in two years. He received A's is all of his science and math courses. John Vincent did not enter into college right away because he wanted to work and save money. In 1921 John Vincent entered the University of Florida as an undergraduate. John Vincent graduated from the University of Florida in 1925 with a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering. He received straight A's as an undergraduate.
John Vincent Atanasoff then went to Iowa State College to pursue his master's degree. At Iowa State, John Vincent met his future wife, Lura Meeks. At the time, John Vincent did not know that she was three years his senior. John Vincent received his master's degree in mathematics from Iowa State College in 1926. Within a few days of receiving his degree, John Vincent and Lura Meeks were married.
After receiving his master's degree, John Vincent went to the University of Wisconsin for his doctorate in theoretic physics. In the same year that John Vincent was accepted as a doctoral candidate, his wife gave birth to their eldest daughter, Elsie. In 1930, John Vincent Atanasoff received his Ph.D. as a theoretic physicist from the University of Wisconsin. Dr. Atanasoff then returned to Iowa State College as an assistant professor in mathematics and physics.
Dr. Atanasoff had always been interested in finding new ways to perform mathematical computations faster. Dr. Atanasoff examined many of the computational devices that existed at that time. These included the Monroe calculator and the International Business Machines (IBM) tabulator. Dr. Atanasoff concluded that these devices were slow and inaccurate.
After being promoted to associate professor of mathematics and physics, Dr. Atanasoff began to envision a computational device that was "digital." He believed that analog devices were too restrictive and could not get the type of accuracy he wanted. The idea of building an electronic digital computer came to him while he was sitting in a tavern. Dr. Atanasoff came up with four principles for his electronic digital computer.
He would use electricity and electronics as the medium for the computer.
In spite of custom, he would use base-two numbers (the binary system for his computer.
He would use condensers for memory and would use a regenerative or "jogging" process to avoid lapses that might be caused by leakage of power.
He would compute by direct logical action and not by enumeration as used in analog calculating devices. (Mollenhoff, 34)
As Dr. Atanasoff worked on his computer project, he asked a colleague to recommend a graduate student to assist him with his project. The graduate student that was introduced to him was Clifford Berry. Berry was gifted electrical engineer and had very similar background as Dr. Atanasoff did. They both got along almost immediately.
In December 1939, the first prototype of the Atanasoff Berry Computer (ABC) was ready. The ABC showed some of the potentials of a computer and it amazed the University. So in 1939, Dr. Atanasoff and his assistant Clifford Berry built the world's first electronic digital computer. With the first prototype working well, Dr. Atanasoff wanted to improve on prototype as well as get patents for the Atanasoff Berry Computer. Obtaining the patents were a slow process that ultimately caused Dr. Atanasoff the recognition that he deserved.
In 1940 Dr. Atanasoff attended a lecture given by Dr. John W. Mauchly. They talked for some time and Dr. Mauchly was very intrigued with Dr. Atanasoff's electronic digital computer. Dr. Mauchly wanted to see the ABC for himself and Dr. Atanasoff agreed. This decision by Dr. Atanasoff would be a mistake since Dr. Mauchly later used many of Dr. Atanasoff's ideas in the design of the ENIAC. The ENIAC is falsely considered by most people as the world's first electronic digital computer designed by Dr. Mauchly and Dr. Eckert. Charges of piracy were later brought against Dr. Mauchly, co-inventor of the ENIAC. A long trial followed and it was not until 1972 that Dr. Atanasoff was given the recognition he so deserved. U.S. District Judge Earl R. Larson ruled that the ENIAC was "derived" from the ideas of Dr. Atanasoff. Although Judge Larson did not explicitly say that Dr. Mauchly "stole" Dr. Atanasoff's ideas, Judge Larson did say that Dr. Mauchly had use many of Dr. Atanasoff's ideas on the ABC to design the ENIAC. When the trial finally ended, Dr. Atanasoff was given credit as the inventor of the electronic digital computer.
Dr. John Vincent Atanasoff died 15 June 1995 of a stroke at his home in Monrovia, Md. He was 91 years old. Although Dr. Atanasoff was not able to get a patent for the ABC, he held 32 patents for his other inventions.
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In any science field, there needs to be a person with the vision to define the future. John Vincent Atanasoff was a genius with such a vision. He developed the first electronic digital computer that has dramatically changed our lives. John Vincent Atanasoff gave birth to the field of electronic computing. In doing so, he also gave birth to a new era, an era of computers.
Today, the computer is an essential part of every person as well as every business. We cannot imagine our lives without a computer being involved. Turning on the TV, making a telephone call, and typing up a report all involves the use of a computer. The invention of the computer meant that technology could improve at a faster rate and our lives became more convenient and more safe.
Take for instance the use of computers in our cars. Anti-lock brakes, air bags, and fuel injections are all controlled by a computer. These advancements make the car safer and more reliable. Computers can also be found in banks, schools, airplanes, businesses, space shuttles, satellites, and numerous other things. In today's society, almost everything involves the use of a computer.
The electronic age is the direct result of the invention of the computer. Never before in the history of humanity has there been an invention that grown so quickly as the computer has. Within the last twenty years, the speed and power of the computer has grown at an exponential rate.
When John Vincent Atanasoff invented the computer, he probably did not know how much of an impact it would have on people's lives. Computers will be involved in every aspect of technology, and it will continue to be a part of technologies to come. The capabilities of computers are advancing every day. Soon, a computer will become more like the human brain than an electronic machine. Computers will take us to Mars, and get us back safely. Computers will always be on the edge of technology and anyone that learns to harness its power will be an important part of the future. Every aspect of our lives has changed because on the computer and its inventor, John Vincent Atanasoff.
John Vincent Atanasoff died 15 June 1995.
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Originally posted by vorticon
that apple leader guy made the first commercial home computer...and comparing the apple 1 to modern pc's is like comparing a formula 1 class ferrari to the model T...
I did not say anything about the home computer!
I said the first computer as we know it.
Read some of the links i put up it is fasinating stuff if you like that kind of thing.
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Originally posted by vorticon
that apple leader guy made the first commercial home computer...and comparing the apple 1 to modern pc's is like comparing a formula 1 class ferrari to the model T...
But the model T got the ball rolling, didn't it? ;)
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Didn't know Al Gore was that old. Guess all that 'tree huggin' keeps you young...
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Originally posted by BNM
Didn't know Al Gore was that old. Guess all that 'tree huggin' keeps you young...
Kurt tank invented the computer, Al Gore made the internet, freakin newbs don't you know chit? Einstein made the elixor, and Degaul created the white flag. I shall quote this famous person as so.
Nov 29, 1939. "I have just returned from Germany where I had a personal conference with Adolph Hitler. He has assured me that he has destroyed all of his weapons of mass destruction, and that he has no intention of attacking anyone. I have known this man for years and can vouch for his varacity. He is the most honest and trustworthy leader we have today." Chamberalin.
Nov 30, 1939. "France will stand by her neighbor, Germany. I have known Adolph Hitler for 10 years and feel that he has created a benovelent country. Any thought of going to war with Germany is atrocious. Herr Hitler has assured me that he has no weapons of mass destruction (we wil call them Iraq) and no intentions of attacking his neighboring countries. We urge all of our allies not to invade Germany which is actually a peace loving country." Charles DeGaul.
When Germany conquered France, Charles DeGaul fled to England, leaving his countrymen to suffer under the iron heel NAZI of oppression.
I love a man who stands by his country!
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Only an idiot would see the coralation between the invintion of the computer and that mindless bable!
Nice attemp at a tread steal btw.
But i can go on for weeks with data about this man who is responsable for the very instrument at your hands you use to show the world your ignorance:D
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I believe Xerox designed the first "windows" type of computer, but they gave up on it and the guy from apple bought the rights. Xerox stole defeat from the jaws of victory.
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Originally posted by pugsly
But i can go on for weeks with data about this man
Obviously. Glad to hear it. Fascinating. Thanks. You're welcome. :D
Thanks again.
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Originally posted by pugsly
Only an idiot would see the coralation between the invintion of the computer and that mindless bable!
Nice attemp at a tread steal btw.
But i can go on for weeks with data about this man who is responsable for the very instrument at your hands you use to show the world your ignorance:D
That's nice, and do I really care? Not really, guess who invented the wheel? Or glass? Or guess what? Who made the ever fearsome crockostimpy?
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and this pretains to AH in what way?
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thanks pugsly. i didnt know the mans name befor.
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Also very interesting, which most people don't know:
The Z1 is today considered to be the first freely programmable computer of the world. It was completed in 1938 and financed completely from private funds. Konrad Zuse's first computer, built between 1936 and 1938, was destroyed in the bombardment of Berlin in WW II, together with all construction plans. In 1986, Konrad Zuse decided to reconstruct the Z1.
The Z1 contained all parts of a modern computer, e. g. control unit, memory, micro sequences, floating point logic.
Konrad Zuses Contributions to the Modern Computer (http://irb.cs.tu-berlin.de/~zuse/Konrad_Zuse/z-contr.html)
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Doubtful we'd have desktop PCs if not for the man who invented the integrated circuit, Jack Kilby, in 1958.
http://www.pbs.org/transistor/album1/kilby/
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And we wouldn't have computer science if it wasn't for God, who created chaos!! :D :rofl
Daniel
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This is all propoganda. The Russians were the first. Right Boroda?
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Interesting stuff, thanks for the links!
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who invented the GUI?
the richest man in the world stole it .. the rest is history :)
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Xerox
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heheh xerox invented everything :)
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Blood Ninja invented the chat rooms..... Haaaaarrrr :D
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did he build it all by himself?
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Originally posted by SunKing
and this pretains to AH in what way?
Gee I dont know Could it be you play AH on a COMPUTER?
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Who invented Video games?
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heheh xerox invented everything
Twice!
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Originally posted by pugsly
Professor John Atanasoff and graduate student Clifford Berry built the world's first electronic-digital computer at Iowa State University between 1939 and 1942.
Originally posted by lucull
The Z1 is today considered to be the first freely programmable computer of the world. It was completed in 1938 and financed completely from private funds. Konrad Zuse's first computer, built between 1936 and 1938, was destroyed in the bombardment of Berlin in WW II, together with all construction plans. In 1986, Konrad Zuse decided to reconstruct the Z1.[/URL]
I guess Zuse wins by a few years. Any other inventors? ;)
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Originally posted by udet
His name was Charles Babbage and he lived in the 1600s :p
Yep
But about 100 years later..
http://www-gap.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Mathematicians/Babbage.html
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By 1834 Babbage had completed the first drawings of the analytical engine, the forerunner of the modern electronic computer. His work on the difference engine had led him to a much more sophisticated idea. Although the analytic engine never progressed beyond detailed drawings, it is remarkably similar in logical components to a present day computer. Babbage describes five logical components, the store, the mill, the control, the input and the output.
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i know that...i was just making a bloody point that the computer as most people know it (pc) was first produced by apple
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Originally posted by ccvi
I guess Zuse wins by a few years. Any other inventors? ;)
Where is it then?
you can see the ABC computer at Iowa state!
If you read the articles to will that John Vincent atanasoff invented the binary system!
Wich all modern computers are based apon.
You will also find that he was the first to use electronic switches.
And memory discharging.
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Today, we look for the first modern digital computer. The University of Houston's College of Engineering presents this series about the machines that make our civilization run, and the people whose ingenuity created them.
The Sperry-Rand Corporation sued Honeywell in 1967. Honeywell was making digital computers, and Sperry claimed Honeywell owed them a royalty. After WW-II, Sperry had bought the patent rights to ENIAC, the first digital electronic computer. Honeywell came back at Sperry with a countersuit. They made the extraordinary claim that Sperry's patent was invalid -- that the digital computer had already been invented before ENIAC.
Honeywell won its case six years later, and Allan Mackintosh tells us that they did it by correcting history. They found their way back to the winter of 1937. A young physics instructor at Iowa State named John Atanasoff was struggling with the problem of mechanizing computation. Things were going badly this particular evening. Finally, in frustration, he jumped into his car and sped off into the night. Two hundred miles later, he pulled up at a roadhouse in Illinois for something to drink.
And there it came to him. A machine could easily manipulate simple on-off electrical pulses. If computations were done in the "either-or" number base of 2 -- instead of base 10 -- a machine could do calculations naturally. Sitting in that road house, 200 miles from home, he made the crucial step in inventing the digital computer.
Two years later Atanasoff and a colleague named Berry started to build a computer. But in 1942 they were drafted, and the almost-complete computer was set aside without being patented. Meanwhile, the government started work on the ENIAC digital computer. ENIAC differed in some ways, and it was bigger.
Besides, an unfinished, unpatented machine doesn't make a very strong claim in a priority dispute. But there's a catch here. One of the major inventors of ENIAC -- John Mauchly -- had known Atanasoff. They'd corresponded. Mauchly had even visited Atanasoff in Iowa for a week in 1941. In the end, it was clear that the ideas that made ENIAC had come from Atanasoff.
Atanasoff did all his work with only $6000 of grant money. But the military funded the ENIAC project. They wanted to make artillery firing tables, and they put a half-million dollars into ENIAC -- a huge sum in 1942.
So the next time you use your pocket calculator -- the next time you spend 30 seconds doing what would have taken all afternoon -- think about a man clearing his mind one winter night in 1937. Think about a man gazing at a yellow line for five hours, until he was suddenly able to see through the dark.
I'm John Lienhard, at the University of Houston, where we're interested in the way inventive minds work.
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Originally posted by Manedew
heheh xerox invented everything :)
thats the company i work for. they are soooooo dmn stoopid. they couldnt find a use for the "mouse" so they let apple use it for free.
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Originally posted by pugsly
Where is it then?
you can see the rebuild Z1 in the "Deutschen Technik Museum" at Berlin.
Ghosty
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Originally posted by Gh0stFT
you can see the rebuild Z1 in the "Deutschen Technik Museum" at Berlin.
Ghosty
It does not do the same thig therefore it does not meet the definition Of being the FIRST digital computer using the binary system.
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Many encyclopedias and other reference works state that the first large-scale automatic digital computer was the Harvard Mark 1, which was developed by Howard H. Aiken (and team) in America between 1939 and 1944. However, in the aftermath of World War II it was discovered that a program controlled computer called the Z3 had been completed in Germany in 1941, which means that the Z3 pre-dated the Harvard Mark I.
Although based on relays, the Z3 was very sophisticated for its time; for example, it utilized the binary number system and could perform floating-point arithmetic.
Today, the Z3 is widely acknowledged as being the first fully functional automatic digital computer, and Konrad Zuse is acclaimed by computer scientists as being the most admired and respected computer pioneer.
but who cares anyway ;)
Regards
Ghosty
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Good stuff pugsy.
It's also good to see you modify you thesis with the introduction of new information, and critique.
"Who was the FIRST inventor of the computer?"
"it does not meet the definition Of being the FIRST digital computer using the binary system."
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some people just cant read :D
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Originally posted by pugsly
Where is it then?
Where are all those world wonders?