The Atanasoff-Berry Computer Reconstruction Project is continuing on schedule, an Ames Laboratory official said.
The $300,000 reconstruction project aims to build a working replica of the first electronic digital computer, invented at Iowa State University in the late 1930s by John Vincent Atanasoff.
John Gustafson, a researcher at Ames Lab who is working on the reconstruction project with an Engineering Services Design Team, said they hope to have a working prototype by August.
"There's nothing any of us want to see more than this thing up and running," Gustafson said. "It's making pretty good progress."
The frame for the computer is done and now workers are building the modules, he said. "It's a lot of repetitive work right now with the modules, so student volunteers are very important," he said.
Finding parts that are 60 years old for the project has proved to be quite a challenge, Gustafson said. "The scavenging we've done has just been amazing," he said. "We're having to use the past technology and figure out how to put it all together at the same time."
Construction is going well, but one thing the project could use is more funding, he said. No government funds are being used on the project, and so far the main donor has been Charles Durham, he said.
Gustafson will be giving a presentation on the reconstruction project tonight at 6 p.m. in Room B-29 of Atanasoff Hall. He will be discussing the project and the history of the ABC computer and how it works.
The history of Atanasoff is intriguing to people because the university failed to properly protect Atanasoff's work--the original computer was scrapped because it took up too much room. And there was a bitter legal battle over who actually created the first computer.
"It is quite a story," he said. "You could make this into a John Grisham movie if you wanted to."
Gustafson said interest in the ABC is especially high now because February 14 is the 50th anniversary of the switching on of ENIAC, the digital computer built at the University of Pennsylvania by someone who visited Atanasoff during the development of the ABC.
A judge ruled that the patent holders of ENIAC could no longer claim it was the first computer, because it was built from Atanasoff's notes, Gustafson said.
"But with the anniversary coming up, they are, contrary to court order, claiming it was the first computer," he said. "But it was certainly not the first computer. I think they would rather not mention the Atanasoff computer because it's a huge embarrassment for them."
Which is why ISU's reconstruction project is so important, Gustafson said.
Project organizers are looking into placing the finished prototype in a museum, such as Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry, instead of keeping it here at ISU, he said.
"That's a good place where millions of people could see ISU's contribution to science and industry," he said. "It could prove something to people about it."
Organizers are also planning a commemorative event when the project is finished this summer, Gustafson said. "It's something we could possibly turn into an annual event to honor Atanasoff," he said.
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