Atanasoff: The Father of the Computer

The story of the lone inventor who fought all his life to be recognized as the originator of one of mankind’s most significant inventions. John Atanasoff, a physics professor at Iowa State College, needed a better calculator that could quickly solve advanced equations and when he tried to find such a machine, realized none existed. So Atanasoff decided he must build his own calculator. Through archive material, reenactments, interviews with experts and first hand witnesses this documentary shines a light to controversy over who was the actual inventor of the computer and an unknown part of our history. The story of the lone inventor who fought all his life to be recognized as the originator of one of mankind’s most significant inventions. John Atanasoff, a physics professor at Iowa State College, needed a better calculator that could quickly solve advanced equations and when he tried to find such a machine, realized none existed. So Atanasoff decided he must build his own calculator. Through archive material, reenactments, interviews with experts and first hand witnesses this documentary shines a light to controversy over who was the actual inventor of the computer and an unknown part of our history. The story of the lone inventor who fought all his life to be recognized as the originator of one of mankind’s most significant inventions. John Atanasoff, a physics professor at Iowa State College, needed a better calculator that could quickly solve advanced equations and when he tried to find such a machine, realized none existed. So Atanasoff decided he must build his own calculator. Through archive material, reenactments, interviews with experts and first hand witnesses this documentary shines a light to controversy over who was the actual inventor of the computer and an unknown part of our history. The story of the lone inventor who fought all his life to be recognized as the originator of one of mankind’s most significant inventions. John Atanasoff, a physics professor at Iowa State College, needed a better calculator that could quickly solve advanced equations and when he tried to find such a machine, realized none existed. So Atanasoff decided he must build his own calculator. Through archive material, reenactments, interviews with experts and first hand witnesses this documentary shines a light to controversy over who was the actual inventor of the computer and an unknown part of our history.