Iowa State University


Inside Iowa State
Oct. 10, 1997

Take a peek at the ABC replica Oct. 22

by Skip Derra

Fresh off its national debut in Washington, D.C., the Atanasoff-Berry Computer replica will be unveiled to the Ames and ISU communities on Wednesday, Oct. 22. A local showing of the computer replica will begin at 5 p.m. in Scheman. A short program will begin at 5:45 p.m.

The replica then will begin a statewide tour, with its first stop in Ottumwa Oct. 27.

Blinking and clicking, the replica successfully solved a problem with two equations and two unknowns in its unveiling at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., Oct. 8. Members of the national press and the families of original ABC inventors John Atanasoff and Clifford Berry crowded into the press room to watch the replica run.

The ABC replica is an authentic working model of the Atanasoff-Berry Computer, built at ISU from 1939 to 1942. The original was never patented and eventually dismantled and scavenged for parts.

It took a team of Iowa State and Ames Lab scientists, technicians and students three years to build the replica.

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Revised 10/9/97