National Geographic features ABC replica

By:Leonard Richard

Iowa State's Atanasoff-Berry computer is once again making headlines, this time in National Geographic Magazine.

The small feature in the August issue of the magazine gives a summary of the history of the ABC, why it was built and the duplication of the computer by an ISU team.

Skip Derra of ISU's News Service said a lot of the recent national press on the ABC is due to the unveiling and demonstration of the replica in Washington, D.C. on October 8, 1997.

Aside from the article in National Geographic, the unveiling of the ABC replica received coverage from CNN, NBC, the Des Moines Register, Forbes Magazine, the Chronicle of Higher Education, USA Today, the Canberra Times in Australia and the Waterloo/Cedar Falls Courier.

"It's all part of an effort to get publicity for this project we've been working on for several years," Derra said.

He said he wants this press for ISU for two reasons: to prove the original ABC actually did work, and to reaffirm the fact that the first digital, electronic computer was invented at ISU.

"The press we've gotten since then is a result of that effort," Derra said.

It cost $360,000 to build the ABC replica, more than the $300,000 of today's dollars it took to build the original.

The computer was built from 1939-1942 and weighed 750 pounds, performed 0.06 operations per second and had a memory storage of 3,000 bits. Today's computers can perform 10 billion operations per second and hold 100 billion bits of memory.

"The whole idea is that people don't realize the computer was invented in Iowa," Derra said.

He said the national coverage reflects well on ISU and shows it is a national and well-respected university.

"This is possibly one of the most important inventions of this century," Derra said. "People will read that story [in National Geographic] and say, 'I didn't realize the computer was developed at ISU.'"

The replica will be on display at the Iowa State Historical Museum in Des Moines through September.

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