[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 155 (Thursday, October 30, 2003)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E2159-E2160]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  HONORING DR. JOHN ATANASOFF ON THE ONE HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY OF HIS 
                                 BIRTH

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. TOM LATHAM

                                of iowa

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, October 29, 2003

  Mr. LATHAM. Mr. Speaker, on October 30, 31 and November 1, 2003, Iowa 
State University in Ames, Iowa, will hold a landmark event that will be 
the Nation's tribute to the late John Vincent Atanasoff's 100th 
birthday (October 4, 2003). Dr. Atanasoff, along with electrical 
engineering graduate student, Clifford Berry, developed the world's 
first electronic digital computer from 1939 to 1942 while serving as a

[[Page E2160]]

physics and mathematics professor at Iowa State University. Known as 
the Atanasoff-Berry Computer, the invention was Atanasoff's solution to 
finding a better, more efficient way for his students to learn. It was 
the principles of his invention that changed the face of technology 
forever.
  The university is organizing the International Symposium on Modern 
Computing, October 30-November 1 in celebration of his life's 
accomplishments. Leaders in the computing field, internationally 
renowned academic researchers, and college and university students from 
across the Nation will come together to discuss the newest technologies 
and research that have the potential to change the world as 
dramatically as did the principles that Dr. Atanasoff's invention 
established. Dr. Atanasoff is a recipient of the Nation's highest award 
for innovation, the National Medal of Technology, which was presented 
to him by President George Bush in 1990. Dr. Atanasoff died in 1995.

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