Talk:John Vincent Atanasoff

message: 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)
replies: text: 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)

text: Ditto Maunus, spot on. Robert K S (talk) 01:09, 22 February 2011 (UTC)
thread_title:  Name 

message: 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)
replies: text: 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)

text: 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)

text: 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)
thread_title:  Manipulative revertings 

message: 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  template for anything that actually gets consensus. WP:Requests for comment also work well. Have fun. --SarekOfVulcan (talk) 02:39, 12 March 2011 (UTC)
thread_title: 4-year edit war

message: 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)
replies: text: 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)
replies: text: 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)

text: 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)

text: 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)

text: — Martin (MSGJ · talk) 17:17, 14 March 2011 (UTC)

text: 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)
thread_title:  American physicist 

message: * A picture could help to do this. Jccort (talk) 21:47, 5 June 2011 (UTC)
thread_title:  Improving the Article 

message: 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)
replies: text: Fixed, thanks. --SarekOfVulcan (talk) 23:20, 6 July 2011 (UTC)
thread_title:  Small Typo 

message: 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 2001The 7th John Atanasoff Tournament.  Darik News website (in Bulgarian)
and 
* Prof. John Atanasoff 4th Primary School, SofiaProf. John Atanasoff Primary School, Sofia.  Picture
with
* The John Atanasoff Bulgarian national tournament in informatics and information technologies, held in the city of Shumen annually since 2001The 7th John Atanasoff Tournament.  Darik News website (in Bulgarian)
and 
* Prof. John Atanasoff 4th Primary School, SofiaProf. John Atanasoff Primary School, Sofia.  Picture
Thanks, --Ohconfucius ¡digame! 07:43, 12 October 2011 (UTC)
replies: text: --Jac16888 Talk 09:12, 12 October 2011 (UTC)
thread_title:  Superscripted ordinals 

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

message: Should now be Mulberry High School (Mulberry, Florida). PamD 09:24, 22 December 2011 (UTC)
thread_title:  dab needed for school name 

message: Please change link from Mulberry High School (which now leads to a disambiguation page) to Mulberry High School.
Certes (talk) 00:06, 8 March 2012 (UTC)
replies: text: Tra (Talk) 02:33, 8 March 2012 (UTC)
thread_title:  Edit request on 8 March 2012 

message: 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)
thread_title:  Ancestry 

message: 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)
thread_title:  Historical accuracy 

message: 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)
thread_title:  Cyclone Computer 

message: 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)
thread_title:  Semi-protected edit request on 14 May 2014 

message: 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)
replies: text: Not done: Born in New York.  Cannolis (talk) 15:32, 4 July 2015 (UTC)
thread_title:  Semi-protected edit request on 4 July 2015 

message: Hello fellow Wikipedians,
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thread_title:  Sources modified on [[John Vincent Atanasoff]] 

message: 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)
thread_title:  Semi-protected edit request on 10 December 2015 

message: 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)
thread_title:  The Atanasoff fraud 

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thread_title:  External links modified 

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thread_title:  External links modified 

message: 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)
thread_title:  Bulgarian origin