Annotated Bibliography

Transcription

1 Annotated Bibliography Primary Sources Awards: Atanasoff, John V. Order of Cyril and Methodius. July This is highest award that a scientist can receive in the country of Bulgaria, this was presented to John V. Atanasoff. Bulgaria, Sofia. This source demonstrates how the Bulgarian culture has welcomed and accepted Atanasoff as the inventor of the first electronic digital computer. From this award I was able to understand how Atanasoff was perceived around the world as this is the highest honor that one can receive in Bulgaria. Atanasoff, John V. US Navy Distinguished Service Award Military decoration award presented to those with exceptional merits. District of Columbia, Washington. This medal shows how Atanasoff s accomplishments went beyond the Atanasoff Berry Computer. This award was presented to him, not for his work on the ABC, but for his accomplishments at the Naval Ordnance Engineering Laboratory in Washington DC. This was useful for me to see how Atanasoff was able to bring the same standard of work to a different industry and that he had done work of importance even after the completion of the ABC. Atanasoff, John V. Iowa Inventor Hall of Fame This is highest award that an inventor in the State of Iowa can receive. Iowa, Des Moines. This award demonstrates how the State of Iowa recognized Atanasoff as an important inventor. Because of this, Atanasoff will be forever in the Iowa Inventor Hall of Fame. From this award I was able to see how Atanasoff was viewed after the Honeywell v. Sperry Rand court case had concluded. Because he was inducted into the Inventor s Hall of Fame directly after the court case ended, it shows how the case not only changed the legal issue but how the public viewed the invention of the computer as well.

2 Atanasoff, John V. Holley Medal A medal given to an artist whose achievement has impacted society. District of Columbia, Washington. Books: This award shows how Atanasoff s computer is considered by many to be of great importance to the world. This award is given not to someone for their achievements, but a single piece of work, in this case, the ABC. Because of this, it shows that in one invention, John Atanasoff changed the direction that the world was going in. This award recognizes that fact. This award has only been given to 52 individuals, among them is Elmer Sperry and Henry Ford. Mollenhoff, Clark R. Atanasoff: Forgotten Father of the Computer. Ames: Iowa State UP, Print. This book was very useful in finding information on the Honeywell v. Sperry Rand court case. From this, I was able to get a broader view of the court case to better understand what happened and how. The book focuses primarily on the struggle that Atanasoff faced to be recognized as the original inventor of the digital computer. Also, this book was written by someone who knew Atanasoff. Because of this, the source has more relevance in terms of what points were brought up and the reasoning behind the court case. Court Cases: Honeywell v. Sperry Rand. Minnesota District Court. 6 May Print. Interviews: This court case was a vital part of Atanasoff being named the inventor of the digital computer. This case showed the struggle that Atanasoff had to encounter in order to be deemed the inventor of the digital computer. Within this source, information such as the prior state of the digital computer patent, the result of the patent, and the struggles in between, are contained. "Interview with John Atanasoff." Interview by Clarence Larson. Engineering History. 19 Mar Television. This interview demonstrated how, in John Atanasoff s words, the order the events in the documentary occurred. From this source, I was able to get a grasp on Mr. Atanasoff s views and outlooks on the events. Atanasoff, in this interview, walks through in great detail his childhood, the process of constructing the computer, the court case, and everything in between. It was used briefly in the documentary to explain the moment

3 when Atanasoff realized that he must make a computer. Letters: Atanasoff, John Vincent. "In Regards to the ENIAC Patent." Letter to Robert Orr. 22 Feb MS. Iowa State University Library, Ames, Iowa. This letter was used as a primary source to determine the why of the Honeywell v Sperry Rand court case. It outlines in great detail Atanasoff's concerns about the machine and what he had claimed to do first. This letter also explained the reasoning that Atanasoff's work was so closely replicated in many systems of the ENIAC. Orr, Robert. "In Regards to the ENIAC Patent Reply." Letter to Dr. Atanasoff. 6 Mar MS. Frederick, Maryland. This letter, in reply to the previous letter, showed how prior to the Honeywell v Sperry Rand case, the public had little knowledge of Atanasoff s machine. Atanasoff s computer was created within a tightly knit group and this letter, along the the original letter that this is in reply to, shows what that group was and what the views were for the people on the outside of that group. Newspaper Article: "Mollenhoff Book Gives Atanasoff Proper Place in Computer History." The Business Exchange [Ames, IA] 17 May 1988: n. pag. Print. This article was very helpful in showing the shift in popular opinion after the court case. The article is very descriptive about how the people, after the Honeywell v Sperry Rand case, came to accept John Vincent Atanasoff as the inventor of the digital computer as opposed to the inventors of the ENIAC, John Eckert and John Mauchly. Patents: Eckert, John P., Jr., and John W. Mauchly. Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer. Sperry Rand Corporation, assignee. Patent June Print. This patent source shows proof of the existence of the Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer patent. This patent was quite important in the timeline of the documentary as it was the cause of the whole Honeywell v Sperry Rand court case. This patent sparked distaste in Atanasoff, and as a result, caused him to legally be named the inventor

4 Pictures: of the digital computer. ABC Operation Iowa State Collections, Ames, Iowa. This image did a good job of explaining what the actual Atanasoff Berry Computer looked like prior to its destruction. While many of the other images show the ABC during the construction process, this image shows what the device looked like when it was operational, just before the events of WWII that halted the construction of the device. ABC Parts 1. N.d. Iowa State Special Collections, Ames, IA. This photo was used to display the parts of the original Atanasoff Berry Computer. This allowed the viewer to visually see what the different parts of the computer looked like and to compare and contrast the differences between the Atanasoff Berry Computer to modern computers. This image is important to the video because throughout the years of digital computers, their image has changed completely. This image provided me with a resource where I was able to see what the computer looked like as well as show the audience how much different computers were at that time. ABC Parts 2. N.d. Iowa State Special Collections, Ames, IA. This image is very similar to image ABC Parts 1. This image just shows different parts of the computer which allows the viewer to better see and get a feel for the Atanasoff Berry Computer and what it was like. Atanasoff at Press Conference. N.d. Iowa State Special Collections, Ames, IA. This photo from the Special Collections at Iowa State University exhibits how John Atanasoff was, and is, an important figure in society; This can be deducted from this photo making it a great resource for this documentary. The image was used as a visual and does a good job at it because it shows the importance of Atanasoff. Atanasoff with Diagram N.p. This image depicting John Atanasoff with a diagram of the Atanasoff Berry Computer shows the pride that Atanasoff took in his work. It is clear, looking at this image, that Dr. Atanasoff was quite proud of his work and the leap that he made for society. This image fit very well into the video as a visual for this reason.

5 Clifford Berry with the ABC Iowa State Special Collections, Ames, Iowa. This image of Clifford Berry holding a part of the Atanasoff Berry Computer was used to show Mr. Clifford Berry's part in the construction of the ABC. While Atanasoff was the leading inventor on the project, Berry provided an undeniable role on the project. If it was not for Clifford Berry, the ABC would never have been completed to the level that is was; this image shows that. Clifford Berry N.p. This image of Clifford Berry provided me, and the audience a basic visual to associate with Clifford Berry. This image also memorializes Clifford Berry and his work. I used this image in a very similar headshot of John Atanasoff. The documentary couldn t have been created without this image of Clifford Berry. John Atanasoff Ames, Iowa. This image of John Vincent Atanasoff is necessary for the construction of this video so that I, and the audience, know what John Atanasoff looks like. The image was used early on in the video so that when images come up later, Mr. Atanasoff is already defined for the audience. This image is, arguably, the most important image in the documentary. John Mauchly N.p. This photograph, similarly to the John Eckert, John Atanasoff, and Clifford Berry photographs, is quite necessary to give the audience a visual on just who this person is. Without these images of these important actors to the invention of the computer, the documentary would be much more lackluster and more difficult to follow. John Presper Eckert N.p. This image was helpful for me to see what John Presper Eckert, the co inventor of the ENIAC looked like. The photograph was also very helpful the other way around as the audience must see what he looks like. While Mr. Eckert and Mauchly, in conclusion, did not win the Honeywell v Sperry Rand case, they are still very important in computing history making them very necessary to mention and show in this documentary.

6 Portrait of Atanasoff. N.d. Painting. Bulgaria. John Atanasoff's father was a Bulgarian immigrant. Because of Atanasoff s Bulgarian heritage, he is a notable figure in Bulgarian culture. This image was pained by the Bulgarians as a tribute to Mr. Atanasoff. I used this image to provide an interesting visual for the audience as it shows quite well Atanasoff's importance in history. Not everyone gets a professional portrait made of them posthumously. Presper and Mauchly N.p. This image was used to show the partnership between Mr. John Presper Eckert and Mr. John Mauchly. It is necessary to show their partnership in the creation of the ENIAC and in the court case of Honeywell v Sperry Rand as the two are co inventors of a device that is very important to the legal rights of the ABC. It is very important for me, and the audience to make that connection between the two inventors. The same goes for Mr. John Atanasoff and Clifford Berry. Reports: Burks, Arthur W., Dr. Super Electronic Computing Machine. Publication. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Print. This document provided to be a great source about the production of the ENIAC. The publication showed, in great detail, how the ENIAC was created, who was involved, and the systems used. This source was very helpful and reliable in the finding of any general information about the ENIAC. Burks, Arthur W. Operator's Manual for ENIAC Dynamic Display. Tech. N.p.: n.p., Print. This manual was used so I could better understand what the ENIAC did. This document made with many papers as documentation of the ENIAC. These papers, collectively, provided me lots of information on how the ENIAC worked as well as how similar it was the the ABC. This document in particular was helpful with the general history of the ENIAC as well as the building process.

7 Eckert, John P., Jr. Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer. Tech. no N.p.: n.p., Print. This document was a complete list of all electronic gates and systems used in the ENIC machine. With this document, I was able to compare and contrast the differences between the ENIAC's systems and the Atanasoff Berry Computers systems. This source also gave me insight on how the computer was created. This source was extremely helpful in the sense that the documentation was done very well. Because of this, I was able to gather a lot of information about the computer. Satirical Publications: Gray, Peter. "IBM and Computer Inventors." N.p.: n.p., n.d. Print. This satirical news clipping shows the views of the public on the subject of computer inventors, Atanasoff included. It depicts two men with IBM shirts, representing IBM and other large companies, pulling information from a brain entitled computer inventors. This shows that in the field of computation, many ideas were taken from different scientist without any accreditation. Videos: ISUSpecialCollection. "From One John V. Atanasoff Part 2." YouTube. YouTube, 30 July Web. 12 Apr < >. This video from the Iowa State University special collections describes the building process of the Atanasoff Berry Computer as well as what it did. In the video, John Atanasoff takes the reporters through the process of building the ABC and what difficulties they had encountered along the way. Atanasoff also describes how the machine works and the different systems that it has. This video was useful because it better helped me to understand how the machine worked and what each system did. It also showed me what the building process was like and what errors were encountered.

8 ISU SpecialCollection. "From One John V. Atanasoff Part 3." YouTube. YouTube, 30 July Web. 18 Apr < ex=3&list=pl376da99f >. This source from the Iowa State University special collections youtube page, was helpful in showing Atanasoff s ties to his Bulgarian ancestors and why they take so much pride in Atanasoff. It showed Atanasoff talking about the award that he had won, the order of cyril and methodius award from the Bulgarians. This source also showed Atanasoff s view on the court court case so that I was better able to understand what he had thought about it. The Atanasoff Berry Computer In Operation. Computer History Museum, 21 Oct Web. 18 Apr < ndex=4>. This source allowed me to be able to visualize how the Atanasoff Berry Computer worked. The video runs through the procedures necessary to run the computer as well as how the computer actually worked. Through this video, I was able to see more clearly the components of the computer and how they all fit together to create the functional ABC. A clip from this video was also used in the documentary to show viewers how the computer worked and to describe the similarities between the systems that Atanasoff used versus what is being used today. "The Forces That Led to the Atanasoff Berry Electronic Computer, Lecture by John Atanasoff." YouTube. ComputerHistory, 11 Nov Web. 23 Apr < In this lecture by John Atanasoff, he talks about the process leading up to the creation of the computer. This was useful so that I could better know why he chose to build the computer, in his own words. He also speaks about the visit that Mr. Machley had taken to Iowa State University. Of this I was able to see how Mauchly had seen Atanasoff s ideas yet, when Mauchly had started work on the ENIAC, he had told Atanasoff that the information on the project was classified. This was all helpful information that was used in the documentary from Atanasoff accepting the job at Iowa State University, to the beginning of the Honeywell V. Sperry Rand court case.

9 Secondary Sources Books: Burks, Alice R. Who Invented the Computer?: The Legal Battle That Changed Computing History. Amherst, NY: Prometheus, Print. This book about the Honeywell v. Sperry Rand court case as well as the impact that it had on the accreditation and future of the computer. From this book, I was able to understand how the Honeywell v. Sperry Rand case had allowed the computer to become not just an object owned by one company, but something that was then made open for all to use and improve upon. Much of the post court case part of the video came from this source as it was very helpful in outlining the impact that the court case had. Smiley, Jane. The Man Who Invented the Computer: The Biography of John Atanasoff, Digital Pioneer. New York: Doubleday, Print. This book is about, more than anything, Atanasoff himself and the struggles that he had encountered on his journey of making the first electronic digital computer. It talks a lot about why Atanasoff was not given proper credit and why most people are unaware of Atanasoff s invention. This information was helpful in the introduction and post creation of the ABC parts of the documentary. Pictures: Atanasoff Berry Replica Durham Center, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa. This photograph of the working replica of the Atanasoff Berry Computer showed how the machine looked in terms of size, shape, and color. Many of the other pictures of the Atanasoff Berry Computer before it was destroyed are old, blurry, difficult to understand, and of course in color. This picture, however, is not, making it an ideal image to better understand what the machine looked like.

10 Videos: "Atanasoff Father of the Computer." YouTube. YouTube, 20 Nov Web. 17 Apr < This video provided good information on both the law and business side of the Honeywell v. Sperry Rand court case. It showed how IBM and Sperry Rand completely controlled the computer industry and how Atanasoff and the lawyer Charles Call had won the Honeywell v. Sperry Rand court case for Honeywell making the invention of the computer more open to the public allowing other companies into the computer business allowing it to flourish. This information was used during the court case section of the documentary. "The Atanasoff Berry Computer Replica." YouTube. YouTube, n.d. Web. 11 Mar < ndex=4>. This video, made by the University of Iowa, helped me better understand the Atanasoff Berry Computer, its replica, and most importantly, why Atanasoff chose to create a digital computer. This source is very strong at explaining the question of why. This source was given to me by someone at the Iowa State Collections and it proved to be quite helpful the completion of the documentary, especially the first section. Also, it showed the accuracy of the replica and how it was used to dispute the argument that the ABC was not functional by world war 2. It showed how the computer was made using the exact same parts and ended the creation process where Atanasoff's original computer s creation had stopped. Websites: "Atanasoff Berry Computer Court Case." Atanasoff Berry Computer Court Case. Iowa State University, Web. 11 Mar < This website, also run by Iowa State University, was also quite helpful in gathering general information about a subject. This website provided information about the Honeywell v Sperry Rand court case. Much of the information on this website was used either in the documentary, in further research, or in attempts at finding living participants in the case to interview. Also, this source provided information on the visit of John Mauchly to Iowa State University. This information was helpful in that I could better understand why it was that Atanasoff had decided to file the lawsuit as well as exactly what Mr. Mauchly had known about the ABC before he started his endeavors on the ENIAC.

11 "Atanasoff Berry Computer." Iowa State University Computer Science. Iowa State University, Web. 11 Mar <http%3a%2f%2fjva.cs.iastate.edu%2foperation.php+>. This source was very helpful in providing general information on the Atanasoff Berry Computer. Because the ABC was designed and created at Iowa State University, the documentation that they have on the subject is quite extensive. This university managed site is no exception. I used this website when I started my research and every time that I referred back to it, I generally found other information of importance that was further researched and often placed in my documentary. Dorovski, Tsvyatko. "John Vincent Atanasoff The Father of the Computer." John Vincent Atanasoff. Columbia University, n.d. Web. 10 Apr < This website was used by me to better understand the Atanasoff Berry Computer as it contained a lot of information on the size and weight of the computer. It also talked about how the computer's memory drums worked and how it used these different systems to go from input to an output that is mathematically correct. "History of Computers and Computing, People, John Atanasoff." History of Computers and Computing, People, John Atanasoff. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Mar < computer.com/people/atanasoffbio.html>. This source was used to fill in gaps in the timeline and further explain Atanasoff s life. This website provided a very detailed and complete biography of John Atanasoff that could easily be used in the documentary. This website also provided a great deal of information about his life after the court case and how his invention continued to spread. "John Atanasoff." John Atanasoff. N.p., Web. 11 Mar < This website provided helpful information about the family and childhood of John Atanasoff. This information was used, by me, to continue further research and find people related to the creation of the computer or John Atanasoff. This information was also used in the documentary to explain Atanasoff s childhood including where he grew up and the occupations of his parents.

12 "John Atanasoff: From the Binary System to the First Computer." Life. N.p., 22 Mar Web. 15 Apr < atanasofffrom the binary system to the first computer%20 Image%202>. This website, made in Bulgaria, focuses on the effect that John Atanasoff s invention has on the people of Bulgaria due to him being from Bulgarian descent. This web page showed me how wide spread Atanasoff s impact was on the world. Also, I was able to see how Atanasoff is perceived in other parts of the world; that being that he is more recognized as the original inventor of the digital electronic computer. "John Vincent Atanasoff." Moonmentum. N.p., 15 June Web. 22 Apr < vincent atanasoff/ >. This source quite explained, quite simply, the background of John Atanasoff. The information from this source was used to piece together events from Atanasoff s life before he started work on the Atanasoff Berry Computer. While this source was in spanish, though google translate I was able to get a lot of good information about Atanasoff s childhood, family, and Bulgarian background. "John Vincent Atanasoff Biography." John Vincent Atanasoff Biography. Iowa State University, Web. 11 Mar < >. This website was very crucial to my preliminary research because it provided great general information. Most of my researching was structured around this site. I had looked for information specifically based on what was missing from this website. A very large amount of information from this website was used in my documentary simply because the depth of information and the reliability of the material.