Why Computers Are Computers: The SWAC and the PC
by David Rutland, available on Amazon.com
Pages 45-6
"...the Iowa State computer built in 1939 which was the unique
creation of Dr. John Atanasoff. He is now credited with the design
and construction of the first vacuum tube computer. It used a
novel means for the storage of numbers, electrical capacitors."
[....]
"Atanasoff used 3200 small capacitors which could be charged to
represent 0s and 1s of binary numbers. His arithmetic unit used
vacuum tubes which made it much faster than the other computers
of the time that used either mechanical wheels or telephone
relays. The machine was not really a general purpose computer as
it was more like Babbage's Difference Engine than the Analytical
Engine. Its control circuits were wired to do one and only one
important task: the solution of simultaneous algebraic equations.
Although parts of the machine were built and proven, it was never
put into full operation. Atanasoff didn't publish his work so it
didn't make a contribution to the development of computers. In
1971 the ENIAC patent case was being litigated and the court
decided that Atanasoff was the true inventor of the electronic
computer because he had his idea so early. The patent that Eckert
and Mauchly had on the first working electronic computer, the
ENIAC, was therefore declared null and void. This ruling, of course,
started up a controversy of who really invented the computer. This
controversy can be resolved by giving everyone credit. Atanasoff
gets the credit for the idea of a vacuum tube computer and Eckert
and Mauchly get credit for going a big step further and making one
that actually worked."
Rutland continues to write about Konrad Zuse. His machines were
true computers and he got little government help. Allied bombers
destroyed his apartment and his Z3 (computer, not BMW!!). After
the war he worked in Germany for IBM, designing computers. He
is sometimes credited for creating the first functional computer
using the stored program concept.
--Luke
_________________________________________________________________
Unsubscribe & list info -- http://www.scruz.net/~luke/signup.htm
Mersenne Prime FAQ -- http://www.tasam.com/~lrwiman/FAQ-mers
