Editing John Vincent Atanasoff (section)

==Computer development==
{{see also|History of computing hardware}}{{Unreferenced section|date=June 2021}}
[[Image:Atanasoff-Berry Computer.jpg|thumb|1997 replica of the Atanasoff–Berry Computer at [[Buildings of Iowa State University#D|Durham Center]], Iowa State University]]
Partly due to the drudgery of using the mechanical [[Monroe calculator]], which was the best tool available to him while he was writing his doctoral thesis, Atanasoff began to search for faster methods of computation. At Iowa State, Atanasoff researched the use of [[master/slave (technology)|slaved]] Monroe calculators and [[IBM]] [[Unit record equipment|tabulators]] for scientific problems, with which controlled the Monroe using the output of an IBM. In 1936 he invented an [[Analog computer|analog calculator]] for analyzing surface geometry. At this point, he was pushing the boundaries of what gears could do and the fine mechanical tolerance required for good accuracy pushed him to consider digital solutions.

With a grant of $650 received in September 1939 and the assistance of his graduate student [[Clifford Berry]], the [[Atanasoff–Berry Computer]] (ABC) was prototyped by November of that year. According to Atanasoff, several operative principles of the ABC were conceived by him during the winter of 1938 after a drive to [[Rock Island, Illinois]].

The key ideas employed in the ABC included [[Binary numeral system|binary]] math and [[Boolean logic]] to solve up to 29 [[simultaneous linear equations]]. The ABC had no [[central processing unit]] (CPU), but was designed as an electronic device using [[vacuum tube]]s for digital computation. It also had regenerative [[capacitor]] memory that operated by a process similar to that used today in [[DRAM]] memory.