Press enter after choosing selection

The man who Invented the Computer : : the Biography of John Atanasoff, Digital Pioneer

Smiley, Jane. Book - 2010 921 Atanasoff, John 1 On Shelf No requests on this item Community Rating: 0 out of 5

Cover image for The man who invented the computer : : the biography of John Atanasoff, digital pioneer

Sign in to request

Locations
Call Number: 921 Atanasoff, John
On Shelf At: Downtown Library

Location & Checkout Length Call Number Checkout Length Item Status
Downtown 2nd Floor
4-week checkout 		921 Atanasoff, John 4-week checkout On Shelf

One night in the late 1930s, in a bar on the Illinois-Iowa border, John Vincent Atanasoff, a professor of physics at Iowa State University, after a frustrating day performing tedious mathematical calculations in his lab, hit on the idea that the binary number system and electronic switches, combined with an array of capacitors on a moving drum to serve as memory, could yield a computing machine that would make his life easier. Then he went back and built the machine. It worked, but he never patented the device, and the developers of the far-better-known ENIAC almost certainly stole critical ideas from him. But in 1973 a court declared that the patent on that Sperry Rand device was invalid, opening the gates to the computer revolution. Biographer Jane Smiley makes the race to develop digital computing as gripping as a real-life techno-thriller.--From publisher description.

REVIEWS & SUMMARIES

Booklist Review
Publishers Weekly Review
Summary / Annotation
Fiction Profile
Excerpt
Author Notes

COMMUNITY REVIEWS

No community reviews. Write one below!