The real inventor of the world's first computer is American Professor John Atanasoff.
Before 1973, most people in the American computer industry believed that the inventors of electronic computers were J. Mauchiy and P. Eckert of the Moore School of Electrical Engineering at the University of Pennsylvania. , because they are the developers of the first electronic computer ENIAC (ENIAC) with great practical value.
The fact now recognized by the international computer community is that the real inventor of the first electronic computer is the American John V. Atanasoff (1903-1995) . He is known as the "Father of Electronic Computers" in the international computer community. Unfortunately, the vast majority of people in the Chinese computer industry do not know this fact.
As to who is the real inventor of the electronic computer, the relevant persons in the United States, Atanasoff, Mauchly and Eckert, once fought a protracted lawsuit, with the court holding 135 hearings. The final decision was made by a district court in the United States.
On October 19, 1973, the court announced its verdict in public: "Mauchly and Eckert did not invent the first computer, but only used the idea in Atanasoff's invention." The reason was that A. As early as 1941, Tanasov told Mauchly, the inventor of ENIAC, about his thoughts on electronic computers.
J. Atanasoft is a professor of physics at the University of Iowa. Atanasoff invented the electronic computer with the help of his graduate student Clifford E. Berry (1818-1963).
The experimental prototype of the first electronic computer began operation in October 1939. The computer helped University of Iowa professors and graduate students solve complex mathematical equations. Atanasoff named this machine ABC (Atanasoff-Berry-Computer), where A and B take the first letters of their last names, and C is the first letter of "computer".
After the birth of the first electronic computer, Atanasov and Berry did not receive the inventor's wreath.
Before Atanasoff and Berry left, two improved ABC computers were operational. The two ABC computers were stored in a storage room in the physics building at the University of Iowa and gradually forgotten.
In 1946, due to material shortages, both machines were dismantled and the parts were used for other purposes, leaving only the memory components. The University of Iowa did not apply for a patent for the ABC computer, which resulted in a protracted legal dispute over the invention rights of the electronic computer.
The U.S. District Court’s ruling was correct because Mauchly, the inventor of ENIAC, did visit the ABC computer at the University of Iowa and listened to Atanasoff’s introduction, which inspired him .
Extended information:
The father of electronic computers
For a long time, Atanasov and his ABC machine were unknown to the world. . The reasons are roughly as follows.
First, Iowa is located in the Midwest of the United States and was relatively isolated at the time. Iowa State University (then called the College) was not well-known, and its research work was not noticed by the world;
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The second is that Atanasov’s research work has not received funding from the U.S. government and military, and is completely a “self-designed project”;
The third is that Atanasov’s research work in September 1942 He was recruited into the army in May and went to work at the Naval Ordnance Laboratory. He stopped working on ABC, and even the machine was later dismantled by the school. In addition, due to various reasons, ABC has not applied for a patent.
Reference:
Baidu Encyclopedia-John Atanasoff