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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"> <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> <head> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" /> <title>ABC Reconstruction Team</title> </head> <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="jva.css" /> </head> <body> <div id="wrapper"> <div id="header"><a href="/index.php"><img src="img/jva_header_01.jpg" alt="JVA" width="650" height="160" border="0" /></a><a href="http://www.cs.iastate.edu/"><img src="img/jva_header_02.jpg" alt="Iowa State Department of Computer Science" width="310" height="160" border="0" /></a> </div> <div id="navbar"> <div class="cell1"><a href="/jvabio.php">John V. Atanasoff</a></div> <div class="cell2"><a href="/berrybio.php">Clifford Berry</a></div> <div class="cell3"><a href="/operation.php">Atanasoff-Berry Computer</a></div> <div class="cell4"><a href="/team.php">ABC Reconstruction</a></div> <div class="cell5"><a href="/history.php">Computing History</a></div> <div class="cell6"><a href="/welcome.php">JVA Initiative<br /> Committee</a></div> </div><div id="maincontent"> <div id="leftnav"> <h2>ABC Reconstruction</h2> <ul><li><a href="/team.php">Reconstruction Team</a></li> <li><a href="/reconstructionoperation.php">Operation</a></li> </ul></div> <div id="rightcontent"> <h2>ABC Reconstruction, 1994-1997</h2> <p>As court cases often do, Honeywell vs. Rand inspired debate and discussion. Since there was no actual ABC computer produced as evidence (although the Sperry team did construct a "breadboard" model), questions arose concerning what kind of machine the ABC actually was. Some called it a "special purpose" computer, therefore distinguishing the ENIAC and other later machines as "general purpose," and therefore more important to the historical record. John Gustafson wrote in <em>The Quest for Linear Equation Solvers</em> that "even with 18,000 vacuum tubes, the ENIAC could only hold 20 10-digit numbers, fewer than the ABC's 30 15-digit numbers," and raised the question of whether the ENIAC itself could be termed a "special purpose" computer. Others claimed that the ABC was never fully operational, and therefore could not possibly be considered the first electronic digital computer. In order to explore these issues and other mysteries about the purpose and functionality of the original ABC, a team of engineers, scientists, and students at Iowa State University came together to build a reconstruction/replica of the ABC computer based on the records that were available, in particular JVA's writings on the machine during his search for funding to build it and later to patent it. </p> <p>Del Bluhm wrote about his experience with the project and all of the contributors that made it possible in <a href="ABC_replica_AtanasoffToday.pdf"><strong><em>Documenting the ABC Replica Project and its Contributors</em></strong></a>, published in the Computer Science Department's alumni magazine, <a href="http://www.cs.iastate.edu/department/atanasofftoday.php"><strong>Atanasoff Today</strong></a>, in spring 2013. John Gustafson documents the process in his paper, <em><a href="http://www.johngustafson.net/pubs/pub57/ABCPaper.htm"><strong>Reconstruction of the Atanasoff-Berry Computer</a></em><a href="http://www.johngustafson.net/pubs/pub57/ABCPaper.htm">, </strong></a>presented in August 1998 in Paderborn, Germany and later appeared in the <em>Annals of the History of Computing</em>.</p> <p><img src="img/team2.jpg" class="floatright" width="400" height="202" alt="Team Members" /> <p>The project was initiated and championed by Delwyn Bluhm, then Manager of Engineering Services at Ames Laboratory, and George Strawn, former director of the Iowa State University Computation Center and Chair of the ISU Department of Computer Science. Bluhm and Strawn obtained initial funding from Charles Durham, a former student of John V. Atanasoff and distinguished alumni of ISU. The original ABC was built with a grant from the Iowa State College for around $5,000. The ABC Reconstruction was completed in 1997, and cost around $300,000. Funding for the project was obtained entirely through private sources. </p> <p><img src="img/Supercomputing96_2.gif" class="floatleft" width="354" height="216" /></p> <p>Above: Early champions of the ABC Reconstruction project, initated by George Strawn and Del Bluhm. <br /><br /> Left: The ABC Reconstruction was unveiled to the public at Supercomputing '96 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, November 17-22. </p> <p> Watch a <strong><a href="/reconstructionoperation.php">demonstration of the ABC Reconstruction</a></strong> in action.</p> <p><em>Photographs presented here are courtesey of the Scalable Computing Laboratory, Iowa State University</em></p> <br /><br /><br /><br /> <h2>Reconstruction Team Roster</h2>(Titles listed indicate status or employment at the time of the reconstruction project)<br /><br /> <h2>Project Directors</h2>Del Bluhm, Ames Laboratory<br />John Gustafson, Ames Laboratory<br /><br /> <h2>Electronic Design Team</h2>Al Read, Iowa State University<br />Gary Sleege, Ames Laboratory<br />Mike Stock, student, Iowa State University<br /><br /> <h2>Electronic Supervision</h2>John Erickson, Ames Laboratory<br /><br /> <h2>Electronic Fabrication</h2>Lee Harker, Ames Laboratory<br />John Hjortshoj, Ames Laboratory<br />Jerry Musselman, Ames Laboratory<br />Clare Tweedt, Ames Laboratory<br />Terry Forgette, student, Iowa State University<br /><br /> <h2>Mechanical Design</h2>Dave Birlingmair, Ames Laboratory<br />Jennifer Augestein, student, Iowa State University<br />Jeff Etringer, student, Iowa State University<br /><br /> <h2>Mechanical Supervision</h2>Jerry Hand, Ames Laboratory<br /><br /> <h2>Mechanical Fabrication</h2>Jim Berninghaus, Ames Laboratory<br />Charlie Bug, Ames Laboratory<br />Steve Lee, Ames Laboratory<br />Bill Wing, Ames Laboratory<br /><br /> <h2>Debugging and Testing</h2>John Erickson, Ames Laboratory<br />Guy Helmer, Ames Laboratory<br />Gary Sleege, Ames Laboratory<br />Charles Shorb, student, Iowa State University<br /><br /> <h2>Review Team Leader</h2>George Burnet, Iowa State University<br /><br /> <h2>Review Team</h2>Murray Blackwelder, Iowa State University<br />Arthur Burks, University of Michigan<br />Joel Snow, Iowa State University<br />George Strawn, Iowa State University/NSF<br /><br /> <h2>Public Relations</h2>John Anderson, Iowa State University<br />Carole Custer, Iowa State University<br />Skip Derra, Iowa State University<br />Geni Greiner, Iowa State University Foundation<br />Steven Karsjen, Ames Laboratory<br /><br /> <h2>Project Administration</h2>Connie Bates, Ames Laboratory<br />Jeanine Crosman, Ames Laboratory<br /> <p> </p> </div></div> <div id="footer">漏 2011 JVA Initiative Committee and Iowa State University <div style="float: right; padding-right: 10px; font-size: 11px; color: #000;"><a href="references.php">References </a> <div style="float: right; padding-right: 10px; font-size: 11px; "> </div> </div> </body> </html>