John V. Atanasoff, an Iowa State professor of physics and mathematics, and Clifford Berry, a graduate student, built the original computer in the period of 1939-42. The original ABC was never patented and eventually was discarded. The replica was built to honor Atanasoff and Berry. The ideas of Atanasoff have transformed society and led to one of our most influential modern industries. The State Historical Society is located at 600 E. Locust, Des Moines.
Admission is free.
The desk-sized ABC had faint resemblance to today's personal computers. While slow and cumbersome compared to today's computers, the original ABC demonstrated several principles that are the basis of modern computing. For example, the ABC was the first to employ a binary system of arithmetic, have separate memory and computing functions, have a regenerative memory, use electronic amplifiers as on-off switches, perform parallel processing, use circuits for logical addition and subtraction, have clocked control of electronic operations and have modular design construction. There were so many unprecedented innovations in that cabinet that one hardly knows where to start listing them for importance. The original ABC was the brainchild of Atanasoff, who was struggling to find a more efficient way to solve large simultaneous equations.