John Vincent Atanasoff was an American physicist and inventor who, with graduate student Clifford Berry, built the Atanasoff Berry computer at Iowa State College between 1939 and 1942. In the 1973 decision of Honeywell v. Sperry Rand, a federal judge named Atanasoff the inventor of the electronic digital computer, the on the record finding at the center of computing's great priority dispute, which this atlas records as debated rather than settled. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
Facts
AwardHonorary doctorate of the University of Florida 2 AwardOrder of Cyril and Methodius, 1st Class 2 AwardNational Medal of Technology and Innovation 2 John Vincent Atanasoff
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What did the 1973 Honeywell v. Sperry Rand decision actually decide about Atanasoff?
A federal judge found that Eckert and Mauchly derived their computer invention from Atanasoff, in a patent dispute, not a final verdict on every first computer claim.
It was a patent case. Between 1954 and 1973 Atanasoff was a witness in legal actions brought by various parties to invalidate electronic computing patents issued to John Mauchly and J. Presper Eckert and owned by Sperry Rand. In the 1973 decision Judge Earl R. Larson found that Eckert and Mauchly did not themselves first invent the automatic electronic digital computer but derived that subject matter from Atanasoff. So the finding is a court ruling about who held the inventive claim in a patent dispute. This atlas records the wider question of who built the first computer as debated, since Colossus and other machines are also claimed.
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Invented
Built with graduate student Clifford Berry.
Source Wikipedia: John Vincent Atanasoff
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Nationality
Also in Geography Atlas: the nationality of this subject.
Sources
1. Wikipedia: John Vincent Atanasoff
Wikimedia FoundationPatent dispute
In the 1973 decision of Honeywell v.
Introduction
was an American physicist and inventor
Invented: Atanasoff Berry Computer, Computer Development section
Atanasoff invented the first electronic digital computer in the 1930s at Iowa State College (now known as Iowa State University).
View the Source 2. Wikidata: John Vincent Atanasoff
Wikidata Q314308, class allow-list match (w-wdresolver-0926)View the Source Reader Challenges (0)
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