Talk:John Vincent Atanasoff

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Name[edit]

Atansoff's last name derives from the Bulgarian language, in it and in other Slavic langs. the name ends in "ov" for male and in "ova" for female. To the emigrants to western Europe and Americas the ending changes from "v" to "ff". It should be stated from where his name derives, that's all for I took it in Bulgarian, not beacause he speaks Bulgarian. Pensionero (talk) 17:20, 21 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for discussing this rather than reverting. I don't see a need to mention the history of the name in the lead - any reader that reads the fact that his father was Bulgarian would be able to deduce that the name is of Bulgarian, giving the Bulgarian spelling adds no information, but rather gives the false impression that he also goes by a Bulgarian version of his name.·Maunus·ƛ· 17:24, 21 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Ditto Maunus, spot on. Robert K S (talk) 01:09, 22 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Manipulative revertings[edit]

Stop it, do not delete sourced information, I am tired to revert your manipulations so many times. Atansoff's ancestry is half Bulgarian and you can't change this. It was unless to protect the page, that's not needed beacause of some editors remove ifno supported by sources, simply a kind of vandalism. Pensionero (talk) 11:35, 22 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]

You need to stop your Bulgarian boosterism and in stead read our policies of WP:VANDAL so you know what vandalism is and isn't, WP:CONSENSUS so you know how we decide what goes into an article and what doesn't and WP:EDITWAR so you know what happenes when editors keep reinserting the same information when confronted with disagreement.·Maunus·ƛ· 14:05, 22 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Your accusations to me for Bulgarian boosterism are not supported by any evidence. The contestable edit was John Atanasoff's name in Bulgarian, we agreed to remove it, but is not understandable why the next version was reverted-isn't John Atanasoff of half Bulgarian ancestry(not ethnicity and not nationality)- true fact and even supported by a source, for what this version was reverted with no explanation, followed by deffending of the page, isn't we removed the name written in Bulgarian? Pensionero 17:05, 22 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]

The evidence is your edit history. Half of which consists of editwarring over the inclusion of topics regarding Bulgarian nationalism in tangentially rleated articles. The article clearly states that his father was born in Bulgaria. that is sufficient information regarding his ties to Bulgaria.·Maunus·ƛ· 17:09, 22 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Maunus has right. This page is periodically susceptible to revision by Bulgarian boosters. These editors are here principally to play up the fact that Atanasoff had a Bulgarian father, and not to contribute substantively to the article. You, Pensionero, are a Bulgarian booster, proudly and openly. Why can I say this? It's not an attack on your character or even an opinion; it is a fact deducible from your record. Among the user boxes on your user page: "This user is a member of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church." "This user is from the Balkans." "This user comes from Bulgaria." "This user is of Bulgarian ancestry." "This user is of Slavic ancestry." "This user supports Bulgaria." "This user is a fan of Bulgarian football." "This user supports CSKA Sofia." "This user participates in WikiProject Bulgaria." "It is approximately 6:50 PM where this user lives. (Bulgaria)." (Also, and not entirely irrelevant to the discussion here: "This user is a teenager.") Your talk page appears to be riddled with 3RR warnings. Your contribution history appears to be little else but Bulgarian-related pages. Have you ever studied Atanasoff's life or work, or his testimony in Honeywell v. Sperry Rand, or his patents, or anything about him? Collected materials in this area? Or are you merely enamored with your discovery that Bulgaria has "claimed" Atanasoff as a native son? Are you qualified to contribute to this page in any way beyond playing up the already-adequately-covered fact of Dr. Atanasoff's ancestry? Robert K S (talk) 17:16, 22 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]

What do you want to say with my userboxes, I haven't "This user is Bulgarian booster" or "This user is Bulgarian, proud and open" instead this I have "This user is Bulgarian", I just often edit and correct articles related to Bulgaria, such as I changed "John Atanasoff was an American physicist" to "John Atanasoff was a physicist", beacause he is not completely clean and full American, if you have sources where is saying that Dr. Atanasoff was completely and full American, show it, if not I will delete this unsourced info. The page is for John Atansoff, a person, not only for the "Atansoff's Berry computer" or "Honeywell v. Sperry Rand", except "testimony in Honeywell v. Sperry Rand, or patents of Atanasoff" there are other things for which can be contributed in the page including Dr. Atansoff's ancestry. Pensionero 12:42, 11 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

4-year edit war[edit]

Ok, this is ridiculous. Settle this on talk, because nobody gets to edit the page again until you can actually agree on something. Use the {{editprotected}} template for anything that actually gets consensus. WP:Requests for comment also work well. Have fun. --SarekOfVulcan (talk) 02:39, 12 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

I am glad someone stepped in and put this edit war on pause.

American physicist[edit]

To start off with, I think that if he was born in the US and died in the US, it's perfectly appropriate to call him an "American physicist". Is this consensus to restore this wording?--SarekOfVulcan (talk) 02:43, 12 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Yes. There really isn't a "content dispute" here; the factuality of the content is not in genuine dispute. The edits to this page to emphasize the paternal ethnicity of the subject are teenage vandalism. Robert K S (talk) 03:05, 12 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

The person is not of full American ancestry and has equal other, it is clearly saying in the page born-New York, died-somewhere in the USA, etc.. and noone removes that One could be French in Australia and African in Albania, no matter in which country he lives. Good option and not any denial of the American nationality and citizenship is just "was physicist", in the infobox is written that Atanasoff has only American citizenship. Pensionero (talk) 15:29, 12 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

There is no such thing as "Full american ancestry" also we don't classify people by ancestry unless they do so themselves. He has never had other citizenships than American, so there is no basis for describing him as "Bulgarian-American". Every American, except Native Americans have ancestry outside of America. Nothing suggests here that he has more roots in Bulgaria than e.g. President Obama has in Kenya, and he certainly isn't a "Kenyan-American President of the United States". ·Maunus·ƛ· 16:09, 12 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Nobody is adding John Attanasoff was Bulgarian-American, I removed the vaguely "was an American" from the intro beacause it is not known for what it refers- for the nationality, citizenship, ancestry/ethnicity?, below in the article all of them are clarified, is not seem to be a problem nobody is arguing for Atanasoff's citizenship and nationality. Pensionero (talk) 17:58, 12 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Were you aware that the guideline for the lead of biographical articles requires nationality be listed in the opening sentence? Robert K S (talk) 21:49, 12 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

In the guideline is saying requiring of (location, nationality, or ethnicity). Then why not "John Atansoff was an American physicist and inventor of half Bulgarian descent"? Pensionero (talk) 16:05, 14 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Why didn't you actually read the guideline first... Wikipedia:Manual of Style (biographies)#Opening paragraph. It's right there above the fold. "Ethnicity or sexuality should not generally be emphasized in the opening unless it is relevant to the subject's notability". Atanasoff's scientific work is not related to the ethnicity of his father in the least. Per the guidelines, he was an American physicist and inventor. Mentioning that he was the son of a Bulgarian emigrant somewhere in the intro is already enough. — Toдor Boжinov — 16:26, 14 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

{{editprotected}} Per the apparent guideline-based consensus above, please change the first line to read "was an American physicist and inventor". Thanks.--SarekOfVulcan (talk) 16:32, 14 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

 Done — Martin (MSGJ · talk) 17:17, 14 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

I don't know how you decided that "ethnicity is not relevant to the subject's notability", however. The Bulgarian father stating in the article is enough, but American you wrote should redirects to United States like that "American", not to like that "American", beacause if not redirects to the American country, why not to write his other half ethnos in the first sentence? Pensionero (talk) 17:46, 14 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

This is a bit embarrassing for me to explain, but "American" is not an ethnos, so it makes no difference where the blue link redirects. Is Atanasoff notable because he is half-Bulgarian? No, he is notable because he invented the first automatic electronic digital computer. His notability does not derive from him partially belonging to an ethnicity. I know you are young, but I strongly advise you to get yourself familiar with the guidelines and read up before engaging in an argument because such ridiculous disputes should not be happening at all... — Toдor Boжinov — 18:50, 14 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]



Ethnicity is relevant to the subject's notability. When was ethnicity not relevant? If the article said he was Bulgarian it would fast be changed to Bulgarian- American. It doesn't matter at all if it is important or relevant to the subject. It is a fact! Facts are not a subject of opinion they should be stated as they are. Therefore editing the text is obligatory.

-Guest — Preceding unsigned comment added by 109.158.49.69 (talk) 13:55, 1 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Maybe he is also ethnic Jewish. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 217.246.219.87 (talk) 17:33, 6 February 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Improving the Article[edit]

  • A picture could help to do this. Jccort (talk) 21:47, 5 June 2011 (UTC)[reply]

The "return" section of the Altanosoff article requires numerous edits to be put into English. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 99.126.182.196 (talk) 03:19, 15 June 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Small Typo[edit]

In the "Early life and education" section, Bulgarian is spelled "Bugarian" — Preceding unsigned comment added by 129.186.93.75 (talk) 14:58, 6 July 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Fixed, thanks. --SarekOfVulcan (talk) 23:20, 6 July 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Superscripted ordinals[edit]

{{editprotect}} as these are not in conformity with WP:MOSNUM, kindly replace:

  • The John Atanasoff Bulgarian national tournament in informatics and information technologies, held in the city of [[Shumen]] annually since 2001<ref>[http://dariknews.bg/view_article.php?article_id=201486 The 7<sup>th</sup> John Atanasoff Tournament.] Darik News website (in Bulgarian)</ref>

and

  • Prof. John Atanasoff 4<sup>th</sup> Primary School, [[Sofia]]<ref>[http://schools.pomagalo.com/1/3083/?view=gallery&pic=12061 Prof. John Atanasoff Primary School, Sofia.] Picture</ref>

with

  • The John Atanasoff Bulgarian national tournament in informatics and information technologies, held in the city of [[Shumen]] annually since 2001<ref>[http://dariknews.bg/view_article.php?article_id=201486 The 7th John Atanasoff Tournament.] Darik News website (in Bulgarian)</ref>

and

  • Prof. John Atanasoff 4th Primary School, [[Sofia]]<ref>[http://schools.pomagalo.com/1/3083/?view=gallery&pic=12061 Prof. John Atanasoff Primary School, Sofia.] Picture</ref>

Thanks, --Ohconfucius ¡digame! 07:43, 12 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

 Done--Jac16888 Talk 09:12, 12 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Image[edit]

Please upload John Vincent Atanasoff's image for this article . -- Raghith 06:48, 24 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

dab needed for school name[edit]

Should now be Mulberry High School (Mulberry, Florida). PamD 09:24, 22 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Edit request on 8 March 2012[edit]

Please change link from Mulberry High School (which now leads to a disambiguation page) to [[Mulberry High School (Mulberry, Florida)|Mulberry High School]]. Certes (talk) 00:06, 8 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]

 Done Tra (Talk) 02:33, 8 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Ancestry[edit]

Okay. So after this HUGE debate, which included literary references...why exactly has all trace of Atanasoff's Irish (&English/French?) heritage been removed from the article...? BigSteve (talk) 09:04, 17 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Maybe he is also ethnic Jewish. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 217.246.192.54 (talk) 17:37, 6 February 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Historical accuracy[edit]

It needs to be noted that public consciousness in Bulgaria will have you believe that John Atanasoff is fully Bulgarian, and that "he invented the computer". As if people before him had never considered using anything other than an abacus or pencil-and-paper to do their calculations... There is even talk by the ex-Foreign Minister (a man who ought to know better) of naming Sofia Airport in his honour, in order "to remind people that it was Bulgarians who invented this computer that I have in my pocket [i.e. his iPhone]" (link here) This WP article doesn't do much to dispel these two myths, and I feel that Atanasoff's Irish ancestry may even have been removed by propagators of that myth. Perhaps this whole twisting of history in Bulgaria, along with the relevant quotes etc. of course, could be specifically mentioned in the article? BigSteve (talk) 09:06, 17 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Likely both Bulgaria and Ireland have equal reason to claim him as such. He did speak Bulgarian fluently though not gaelic and would often correct the pronounciation of his name to the Bulgarian pronounciation.

Cyclone Computer[edit]

Nothing is mentioned about his work with Clifford Berry on the Cyclone computer in 1959. I suggest adding something in the Post War section on it. See CYCLONE.Ikerus (talk) 04:26, 16 June 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Nobel Prize nominations[edit]

I had added a statement about how Atanasoff had repeatedly been nominated to receive the Nobel Prize, and included a YouTube source where his son (off camera) states this to a panel during an author interview where that author's book about Atanasoff is being discussed. My contribution got reverted under the rationale that I was in violation of Wikipedia's YouTube policy, WP:NOYT. Clearly this editor has a gross misunderstanding of what that policy is saying. Just because the policy is abbr as "NOYT", it does not mean that YouTube should never be used as a reference. YouTube often contains many excellent sources which are great, particularly when they are authentic primary sources and solid secondary sources. In this particular case, the video I've cited is a primary source (the son) talking to a secondary source (the biographer).

YouTube has a wealth of such reliable references. The purpose of NOYT is to prevent spurious videos of totally unreliable origin from being cited as fact. I am reverting the revert, and maybe others here would like to help explain to Jeremy112233 that NOYT does not mean "don't every cite a YouTube video". =Dustin Dewynne (talk) 18:27, 13 July 2013 (UTC)[reply]

The son is not a primary source. At best he is hearsay. Is the evidence in the biography? If yes, then use that reference. If no, then it didn't meet the test for the biographer and YouTube is not acceptable as a source without any other back-up. If the statement is true, there will be other evidence. I can't find any. Can you? Bielle (talk) 18:44, 13 July 2013 (UTC)[reply]
My contribution to the article says that his son has stated that Atanasoff was nominated several times for the Nobel Prize. This is a solid unquestioned fact, as anyone who watches the video link can see for themselves. Notice how I put his statement in quotes, and that it is well sourced. And clearly the son is a primary source. He is an eyewitness. He was there. He spoke with his father. You are mixing historiography terminology with courtroom terminology. Wikipedia does not apply courtroom standards for evidence, otherwise 99% of Wikipedia would be discarded (my estimate).
...and notice that the fact that I included into the article is perfectly acceptable for a biographer. I see absolutely no problem with an author publishing in a person's biography, "I spoke with his son and his son told me that he had been nominated for a Nobel Prize three or four times." If you had taken the time to watch the video, you would know that this info is not in her biography because her response to the son was, "that's not something I knew". Also notice that her response was not, "Do you have any evidence to back that up?" She appears to be well aware that she is speaking to an eyewitness primary source.
The fact of his son informing us that Atanasoff had been nominated for the Nobel needs to be re-added to this article as highly salient. When further evidence comes to light, then we can strengthen that info by removing the quotes, etc. =Dustin Dewynne (talk) 21:11, 13 July 2013 (UTC)[reply]
Bielle is right. Besides the fact that Nobel Prize nominations are private and not verifiable. You really have to stop using Youtube before you are reported to the administration.Jeremy112233 (talk) 01:02, 14 July 2013 (UTC)[reply]
The fact that I had posted to this article is totally verifiable. And notice that the fact is not that Atanasoff was nominated for the Nobel Prize. The fact is that his son has stated that he was. So while you see Nobel Prize nominations to be unverifiable, this one particular fact is verifiable. As I stated in my previous post, anyone can verify it for themselves.
And I would totally welcome admin oversight on all of your reverts to my contributions, as I expect every single admin to understand NOYT in the same manner that I understand it. =Dustin Dewynne (talk) 03:55, 14 July 2013 (UTC)[reply]
I understand the distinction you are making. There would still need to be some discussion in some other reliable source about this claim, or it has no significance. No one else, ever, including Atanasoff himself, and his biographer(s), has noted it. Any child of a famous parent can make any claim -and this one may even be true; we will know in 50 years after the relevant period. Has anyone else picked up on this claim? You would need further evidence that some one thinks his claim is worthy of note. Bielle (talk) 04:04, 14 July 2013 (UTC)[reply]
I just googled ["nominated for nobel" site:wikipedia.org] and got over 500 hits, so this is clear evidence that being nominated for a Nobel Prize is something that Wikipedia editors choose to cite. You are stating that Atanasoff himself never noted it, even after you've been informed that his son has stated that this had happened repeatedly. It would appear that your position here is that the son is fabricating this info. I would say that the onus is on you to provide evidence that the son is mistaken. I hope everyone would be open to recognizing that the son had much more intimate access to his father than most biographers did. =Dustin Dewynne (talk) 04:46, 14 July 2013 (UTC)[reply]
No that is not evidence, see WP:GOOGLEHITS. You need something verifiable, otherwise you are simply continuing to vandalize Wikipedia and may be blocked for this. Jeremy112233 (talk) 15:10, 14 July 2013 (UTC)[reply]
Also see Wikipedia:Google searches and numbers. Jeremy112233 (talk) 15:22, 14 July 2013 (UTC)[reply]
Lastly, I've done my own search for an RS that proves what you are trying to add and can find none. This leads me to be very suspicious of the claim the son is making of the father in terms of the veracity of its truth. If there is no RS, we shouldn't be adding it. Jeremy112233 (talk) 15:28, 14 July 2013 (UTC)[reply]

John Atanasov has also order "People's Republic of Bulgaria", which is given in 1985, for contribution to the development of Bulgarian technology. I think that this also must be added in article --195.24.37.106 (talk) 16:46, 8 January 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Actually it was added. Sorry!--195.24.37.106 (talk) 16:47, 8 January 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Semi-protected edit request on 14 May 2014[edit]

John Vincent Atanasoff (October 4, 1903 – June 15, 1995) was an American physicist and inventor of Bulgarian descent, best known for inventing the first electronic digital computer. Titaka (talk) 10:23, 14 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

 Not done - According to the article he was of "Bulgarian, French and Irish ancestry" - there seems no reason to emphasize one over the others - especially as was US born. Arjayay (talk) 10:59, 14 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Other than the fact he was 50% bulgarian and at best 25% irish and french each?

PARENTS[edit]

In the article it mentions his father was killed by soldiers and then the very next sentence says he was raised by his parents (plural). "While Ivan was still an infant, Ivan's own father was killed by Ottoman soldiers after the Bulgarian April Uprising.[5] In 1889, Ivan Atanasov immigrated to the United States with his uncle. Atanasoff's mother, Iva Lucena Purdy, was a teacher of mathematics. Atanasoff was raised by his parents in Brewster, Florida."

Bratwiz (talk) 11:04, 28 June 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Sentence is actually quite clear - says the father of Ivan Atanasoff(John Atanasoff's grandfather), was killed while Ivan was an infant. John Atanasoff was raised by his parents, which included Ivan. Cannolis (talk) 15:35, 4 July 2015 (UTC)[reply]
I think since neither John nor his father actually knew his grandfather, it's ultimately pointless information. At the very least this paragraph needs to be edited to follow a chronological order. Something like:
- John Atanasoff's grandfather was killed while his father, Ivan, was still an infant. Ivan then emigrated with his uncle to the US. Later in his life, he got married to Iva Lucena Purdy, teacher of mathematics of French-Irish origin. Atanasoff was born on the 4th of October 1903...
I think skipping his grandfather altogether would be better still as it provides no valuable information about his actual early life:
- John Atanasoff was born on the 4th of October 1903. His father Ivan, had emigrated from Bulgaria as a child and was electrical engineer. His mother, Iva Lucena Purdy was teacher of mathematics of French-Irish origin.
Reason for the suggested edit is that people just don't read Wiki articles like novels. People will skim over a paragraph will expect the word "father" to refer to the father of the article subject. B1-66ER (talk) 10:07, 14 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Semi-protected edit request on 4 July 2015[edit]

Please change "John Vincent Atanasoff was an American physicist and inventor" to "John Vincent Atanasoff was an Bulgarian physicist and inventor" ,becouse he is Bulgarian.

FortonBG (talk) 13:52, 4 July 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Not done: Born in New York. Cannolis (talk) 15:32, 4 July 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Likely best to change to Bulgarian-American. It is quite accepted nowadays to refer to the ethnic background. As in Italian-American, Greek-American, African-American etc. Nothing particularly wrong with adding the extra color denoting his background.

Sources modified on John Vincent Atanasoff[edit]

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Semi-protected edit request on 10 December 2015[edit]

Atanasoff was not Bulgarian! He was born in America and never lived in Bulgaria and didn't even speak Bulgarian so please correct your information. If you state where everybody's parents in America were born there would not be one American amongst you unless they where indigenous.

  • Not true. - Actually he spoke Bulgarian and often would correct the pronounciation of his name to the Bulgarian. You can see this on one of his interviews in the very beginning.

Chapmansbg (talk) 21:24, 10 December 2015 (UTC)[reply]

  • Done This was a recent change that had no consensus behind it. So I have reverted it and changed "Bulgarian-American" back to "American." Thank you. --Stabila711 (talk) 04:08, 11 December 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Stating of ancestry is not bad, but he was American since was born in America. I love to know even all grandparents of famous people and their ancestry and ethnicity.

The Atanasoff fraud[edit]

Many people do not realize that the Atanasoff story in Bulgaria is a product of an intentional fraudulent compaign. Judge Larson did not rule anywhere that Atanasoff’s ABC is the first automatic electronic digital computer. The most he says is p. Introduction 6.6, where it written “In reaching these Findings, the Court has weighed the evidence relating to defendant's patent rights and business activities against the background evidence which was presented to show:” …. p.Introduction 6.6.3

“The history of design and construction of the earliest automatic electronic digital computers and, particularly, the so-called "ABC" (Atanasoff-Berry Computer) at Iowa State College, and the "ENIAC" machine (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer) of Army Ordnance at the Moore School of the University of Pennsylvania;”

That is all … it is different isn’t it?

The whole trial is not about Atanasoff. Atanasoff is just a witness. It is about patent validity, patent fraud, antitrust violation, preferential licensing.

The Atanasoff fraudulent compain is on national level in Bulgaria. It is initiated by Georgi Alipiev, Kiril Boyanov and Blagovest Sendov. These three individuals will be marked as AБC. Georgi Alipiev read the Russian translation of the Richard Kohler Richards (fiend of Berry from IOWA State College) book “Electronic digital systems” where he suggested that may be ABC is the first digital computer. The documents (the patents of Athur Dickinson, Joseph Desch, Robert Mumma and Samuel B. Williams all of them part of the trial) prove that he is at least wrong. Geori Alipiev shows the book to Kiril Boyanov and Kiril Boyanov shows it to Blagovest Sendov. At that time Blagovest Sendov is a high ranged professor in the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences and senior administrator. Sendov himself claims that after that he invited Atanasoff to visit Bulgaria. Having in mind that at that time Sendov is under constant surveillance of the Bulgarian Secret Services with nick Object “the Scientist”, this innocent invitation is highly unlikely, not to say impossible. Probably in the archives of the Central Committee of the Bulgarian Communist Party and the Bulgarian Secret Services documents regarding Atanasoff’s invitation will be found one day.

The aim of the propaganda campaign is to propagandize “the achievements of the Bulgarian creative genius during the socialism under the wise leadership of Todor Givkov”. For this purpose Atanasoff has to be assimilated and the communists translated his name Dzohn (Ivan) Vincent Atanasov. Atanasoff does not say anything. Just a note -judge Larson gives a very interesting qualification of the Atanasoff’s character – in p. 13.25.2 of the decision judge Larson writes “Atanasoff saw the ENIAC machine as it existed on October 26, 1945, and in early 1946 extensive publicity was given to the ENAIC project, acknowledging Eckert and Mauchly as the inventors, but Atanasoff did not assert that the ENIAC machine included anything of his until two decades later.” In other words, 20 years silence. During his visit in Bulgaria Sendov presented him as “Prometheus of the electronics” and that "without ABC we should not have had computers". Atanasoff again did not object, again silence.The whole propaganda machine was full on – TV, radio, meetings, you name it. Atanasoff was everywhere. The communists started looking for his relatives (80 years after his father emigrated to US). It was farcical. On the TV appeared confused elders that seemed scared or at least concerned and said “A-a-a, Ivan there was such a person and Atanasoff was smiling politely at the back”. This scene is probably in the archives of the Bulgarian TV if the Secret Services did not destroy it. The orders of Bulgaria started flying towards Atanasoff like jubilee pins for contributions to Bulgaria. Probably, until his visit to Bulgaria, he did not know where Bulgaria is.

In 1985 he visited Bulgaria for a second time and during his visit the Vice Prime Minister Georgi Jordanov, member of Politburo of the Bulgarian Communist Party says “We would like to believe, that deep in the roots of Your magnificent creation, product of an extraordinary scientific vision, there is a seed of the creative enthusiasm of the talented Bulgarian nation”. This is the end of the assimilation of Atanasoff, he does not say anything yet again, and from now on he is “one of us” and the Bulgarians invented the computer. The so called “Atanasoff story” was all over us, everywhere. Atanasoff participated in this national fraud voluntarily. For an American this means nothing, but from the perspective of an ordinary Bulgarian the behavior of the communists is treason. Atanasoff collaborated voluntarily to the Bulgarian Communist Party and the Bulgarian Secret Services for the indoctrination of the Bulgarian nation. This lasts more then 45 years and that is the reason why today a lot of Bulgarians believe Atanasoff is Bulgarian. Well he is an American and if the Americans do not want him he is an Irish for sure. The whole story of this compaign is published by Ivan Ruskov in http://liternet.bg/publish14/i_ruskov/ivan_asen.htm. Unfortunately it is in Bulgarian. The Atanasoff compaign in Bulgaria is anti-Bulgarian compaign, that make Bulgaria and its nation laughing stock for the whole world.

The technology Atanasoff invented in ABC is covered completely by Turing by mid 1943. Not many people know that Turing used regenerative tape in the Aquarius machine, part of the Colossus machine. The regenerative memory is a real contribution of Atanasoff. The contribution to the parallel processor is shared with George Stibitz. George Stibitz uses two processors in parallel to process the real and imaginary part of the complex numbers. The George Stibitz patent is from 1941 and this is the first parallel SIMD processor. The Atanasoff parallel processor is one of a kind - 30 Serial processors. Serial processors are not in use. At the beginning Atanasoff considers ABC as an early unsuccessful attempt. After the Trial he changes his opinion and it became the first computer. Calvin Mooers gives a very good assessment of the Atanasoff’s character in his postmortem memoir “The Computer Project at the Naval Ordnance Laboratory” published in IEEE Annals of the Histrory of Computing, Apr. 2001 pp.50-67 and available at IEEE Explore.

Most of the pro-Atanasoff literature is journalist romance where truth, manipulations and lies are well stirred. A good source to read about the Atanasoff’s partisan wars is Bernard O. Williams “Atanasoff: Forgotten Father of the Computer/The First Electronic Computer: the Atanasoff story” published in “The Annals of Iowa”, State Historical Society of Iowa, Iowa department od Cultural affairs” Vol.50, Num.5, 1990, pp.568-572 In the end I would like to state I am not pro-Mauchly or anti-Atanasoff, but the lies have to stop. What Mauchly did the judge found and invalidated his claims. It is about time to put the Atanasoff's records straight. Atanasoff's machine is not the first electronic computer. The first electronic computer is the Accounting apparatus of Arthur Dickinson from IBM. The second is the calculating machine of Joseph Mumma from NCR. Atanasoff in fact tried to steal their achivements, hiding behind the decision of judge Larson and relying that not many people will read it. Vebar (talk) 01:28, 25 February 2017 (UTC)[reply]

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External links modified[edit]

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I have just modified 4 external links on John Vincent Atanasoff. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:

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Computer was first invented and built by Vannevar Bush[edit]

Just was partly analogous due to lack in 1930 of electronic components

Bulgarian origin[edit]

According to Atanasov, Bulgarian was never spoken in their home and his family did not maintain close ties with Bulgarian emigrants. He described his mother as a typical American of mixed Irish-French descent. Their home language was English. There is no evidence that he felt Bulgarian, or that he spoke fluently Bulgarian. It is clear that he was an American of mixed ancestry, not simply Bulgarian. Stop pushing this incorrect claim in this article. Thanks. Jingiby (talk) 07:00, 2 October 2022 (UTC)[reply]

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