A Murder Most Foul: The Death of the Atanasoff-Berry Computer
The brainchild of the brilliant John Vincent Atanasoff and Clifford Edward Berry, the Atanasoff-Berry Computer, had many enemies. Were these enemies what ultimately lead to its untimely demise?
The Atanasoff-Berry Computer (ABC) is claimed by many to be the first modern digital electronic computer. Whether or not this is true; at the very least it was a precursor to ENIAC, the computer that most people who are not on the side of the ABC, consider the first digital electronic computer. This discrepancy on the title of first modern computer lead to patent arguments, law suits and an innumerable number of message board and scholarly debates on who holds this title. Did these factors lead to the untimely demise of the original ABC?
Let’s first investigate what claims the ABC had to being called the first modern computer. Like modern computers the ABC used binary to represent all numbers [1]. It used electronics such as vacuum tubes and transformers rather than mechanical switches [1]. The …show more content…
On May 3, 1972 the case of Honeywell vs. Sperry Rand was decided [3]. This case was for patent infringement of ENIAC on the earlier works of John Vincent Atanasoff. Atanasoff had shown Mauchly and Eckert, the creators of parts of ENIAC, sketches, plans and ideas for an electronic computer. Atanasoff claimed that these ideas used in the earlier ABC, were also used in ENIAC; without proper credit to Atanasoff and Berry [3]. Over the course of the court case it was shown that John Mauchly had a great deal of interaction with Atanasoff, Berry, and their computer. Mauchly also saw the design concepts and elements behind the ABC [3]. The case was suspected to take a year to settle. When the dust actually settled in the courtroom, five years had passed [3]. The judge for the case found that "Eckert and Mauchly did not themselves
The brainchild of the brilliant John Vincent Atanasoff and Clifford Edward Berry, the Atanasoff-Berry Computer, had many enemies. Were these enemies what ultimately lead to its untimely demise?
The Atanasoff-Berry Computer (ABC) is claimed by many to be the first modern digital electronic computer. Whether or not this is true; at the very least it was a precursor to ENIAC, the computer that most people who are not on the side of the ABC, consider the first digital electronic computer. This discrepancy on the title of first modern computer lead to patent arguments, law suits and an innumerable number of message board and scholarly debates on who holds this title. Did these factors lead to the untimely demise of the original ABC?
Let’s first investigate what claims the ABC had to being called the first modern computer. Like modern computers the ABC used binary to represent all numbers [1]. It used electronics such as vacuum tubes and transformers rather than mechanical switches [1]. The …show more content…
On May 3, 1972 the case of Honeywell vs. Sperry Rand was decided [3]. This case was for patent infringement of ENIAC on the earlier works of John Vincent Atanasoff. Atanasoff had shown Mauchly and Eckert, the creators of parts of ENIAC, sketches, plans and ideas for an electronic computer. Atanasoff claimed that these ideas used in the earlier ABC, were also used in ENIAC; without proper credit to Atanasoff and Berry [3]. Over the course of the court case it was shown that John Mauchly had a great deal of interaction with Atanasoff, Berry, and their computer. Mauchly also saw the design concepts and elements behind the ABC [3]. The case was suspected to take a year to settle. When the dust actually settled in the courtroom, five years had passed [3]. The judge for the case found that "Eckert and Mauchly did not themselves