Who Invented the Computer?: The Legal Battle That Changed Computing History - Hardcover

Burks, Alice R.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1591020344 ISBN 13: 9781591020349

Publisher: Prometheus, 2003

Synopsis

In 1973, Federal District Judge Earl R. Larson issued a ruling in a patent case that was to have profound and long-lasting implications for the dawning computer revolution. Against all expectations, the judge ruled against Sperry Rand Corp., which claimed to hold the patent on the first computer dubbed the "ENIAC" and was demanding huge royalties on all electronic data processing sales by Honeywell Inc. and other large competitors. The judge came to the conclusion that in fact the ENIAC was not the first computer but was a derivative of an obscure computer called the ABC, which had been developed in the late thirties by a largely unknown professor of physics and mathematics at Iowa State University, named John V. Atanasoff.Looking back today from our digital world at what was then a little-publicized trial, it is clear that the judge's decision had enormous repercussions. If Judge Larson had ruled the other way, in favor of the patent claim, subsequent manufacturers of computing hardware would have had to obtain a license from Sperry Rand, and the course of computing history would likely have been very different from the galloping revolution we have all witnessed in the past three decades.This book centers on this crucial trial, arguing that Judge Larson correctly evaluated the facts and made the right decision, even though many in the computing community have never accepted Atanasoff as the legitimate inventor of the electronic computer. With meticulous research, Alice Rowe Burks examines both the trial and its aftermath, presenting telling evidence in convincing and absorbing fashion, and leaving no doubt about the actual originator of what has been called the greatest invention of the 20th century.

About this title

About the Author

Alice Rowe Burks (Ann Arbor, MI) is an author of both children's books and books and articles on the early history of electronic computers.

From the Inside Flap

In 1973, Federal District Judge Earl R. Larson issued a ruling in a patent case that was to have profound and long-lasting implications for the dawning computer revolution. Against all expectations, the judge ruled against Sperry Rand Corp., which claimed to hold the patent on the first computer--dubbed the "ENIAC"--and was demanding huge royalties on all electronic data-processing sales by Honeywell Inc. and other large competitors. The judge came to the conclusion that in fact the ENIAC was not the first computer but was a derivitive of an obscure computer--called the ABC--which had been developed in the late thirties by a largely unknown professor of physics and mathematics at Iowa State University, named John V. Atanasoff.

Who did invent the "automatic electronic digital computer" at issue in Judge Larson's courtroom? Was it John Mauchly and Presper Eckert, whose ENIAC was unveiled to the world in 1946? Or was it John Atanasoff, whose ABC was resurrected decades later to play a crucial role in the multimillion-dollar lawsuit?

WHO INVENTED THE COMPUTER? centers on this crucial trial, arguing that Judge Larson correctly evaluated the facts and made the right decision, even though many in the computing community have never accepted Atanasoff as the legitimate inventor of the electronic computer. Author Alice Rowe Burks critically examines the testimony and the evidence and challenges the judge's critics to look at the proceedings and show how he could have reached any other decision.

Looking back today from our digital world at what was then a little-publicized and largely ignored trial, it is clear that the judge's decision had enormous repercussions. If Judge Larson had ruled the other way, in favor of the patent claim, subsequent manufacturers of computing hardware would have had to obtain a license from Sperry Rand, and the course of computing history would likely have been very different from the galloping revolution we have all witnessed in the past three decades.

With meticulous research Burks explores both the trial and its aftermath, presenting telling evidence in convincing and absorbing fashion, clarifying the history and leaving no doubt about the actual originator of what has been called the greatest invention of the twentieth century.

Reviews

In 1941, physicist John Mauchly visited his colleague John Atanasoff at Iowa State University for a few days, during which they discussed the computer Atanasoff was working on, later called the Atanasoff-Berry Computer (ABC). Within five years, Mauchly would be celebrated as one of the men responsible for the ENIAC, often referred to as the first computer. Thirty years later, what happened during that visit would become the core of a lengthy patent case and grist for countless speculative articles. Was the ENIAC based on the ABC? In 1973, Judge Earl L. Larson ruled in Atanasoff's favor, effectively declaring him the inventor of the computer as we know it. Among aficionados of the history of computing, there's widespread feeling that Larson blew the call, and it is this perception that Burks is intent on demolishing. Exhaustively citing the trial transcript as well as the conflicted reaction of the computing community, the author amply demonstrates Atanasoff's credibility and Mauchly's evasiveness about that meeting. She also persuasively demonstrates the manifold leap forward the ABC represented. In a way, Burks's account is undermined by the sheer strength of her case: most readers will be entirely convinced after only a couple of chapters. However, this thorough treatment of an important subject is invaluable. Photos.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

John V. Atanasoff invented the computer, argued Burks in a previous book, The First Electronic Computer (1989). His competitors for that distinction are John Mauchly and Presper Eckert, makers in 1946 of the famous Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer, and belief in whose claim is widespread thanks to popular works such as Scott McCartney's ENIAC (1999). In addition, Smithsonian exhibitions and PBS programs on the history of the computer have irked Burks as slighting Atanasoff's work, so here she rolls out a new brief. It will unquestionably put off anyone only casually interested in the dispute; yet for the hard core who are as committed to the subject as Burks, her information is a fount of reproof to the ENIACs. The matter was litigated in the early 1970s, the case turning on what exactly Mauchly took away from a 1941 visit to Atanasoff and his rudimentary but pioneering electronic digital calculating machine. With immense and often esoteric detail, Burks energetically upholds the pro-Atanasoff cause. Gilbert Taylor
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Edition details

• Publisher: Prometheus
• Publication date: 2003
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1591020344
• ISBN 13: 9781591020349
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 415