Atanasoff-Berry Computer
a day ago
- #reconstruction
- #patent-history
- #early-computing
- The Atanasoff-Berry Computer (ABC) was an electronic computing machine conceived by John Atanasoff in 1937 and built with Clifford Berry from 1939 to 1942 to solve linear equations automatically, though it was not programmable.
- A working reconstruction of the ABC was built between 1994 and 1997, revealing design details like hand-selected resistors and components such as add-subtract circuits, a card reader, binary punch, and memory drums storing 30 numbers each.
- The ENIAC patent lawsuit in 1967 highlighted the ABC's prior work, leading to the invalidation of ENIAC patents after it was ruled that John Mauchly derived ideas from Atanasoff, effectively making the invention of the electronic computer unpatented.