March 25, 2010

ABC computer

Taking the replica cross-country

Staff from ISU's Central Stores moved the Atanasoff-Berry Computer (ABC) replica from its location in the Durham Center last week. The Computer History Museum, Mountain View, Calif., is its new home for at least 10 years. Central Stores manager Norm Hill delivered the full-scale, working replica Monday afternoon to the museum, where it will be part of a 25,000-square-foot exhibition opening this fall. The exhibition will present more than 1,000 artifacts to tell the story of computing history and provide insights into how computing innovations have influenced everyday lives. A team of Iowa State researchers completed and demonstrated the replica in 1997 as a tribute to the innovators of the ABC. John Vincent Atanasoff, a former professor of physics and mathematics, and Clifford Berry, a former physics graduate student, built the groundbreaking machine on campus from 1939 to 1942. Their machine was dismantled during the late 1940s and almost entirely discarded.

A display about the development and history of the ABC, including replicas of several vacuum tubes and one of the machine's rotating drums, will remain in the Durham Center lobby. Photos by Bob Elbert.

ABC computer