Atanasoff, John V(incent)

(born Oct. 4, 1903, Hamilton, N.Y., U.S.—died June 15, 1995, Frederick, Md.) U.S. physicist. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin. With Clifford Berry, he developed the Atanasoff-Berry Computer (1937–42), a machine capable of solving differential equations using binary arithmetic. In 1941 he joined the Naval Ordnance Laboratory; he participated in the atomic bomb tests at Bikini Atoll (1946). In 1952 he established the Ordnance Engineering Co., which he later sold to Aerojet Engineering Corp. In 1973, after a judge voided a patent owned by Sperry Rand Corp. on ENIAC, the Atanasoff-Berry Computer was credited as the first electronic digital computer.

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