‘The Man Who Invented The Computer’

In her new book, “The Man Who Invented the Computer,” Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Jane Smiley introduces us to John Vincent Atanasoff, a physicist and mathematician who, in 1937, invented much of what we know as the modern-day computer. His creation became known as the Atanasoff-Berry Computer, also known as ABC: an invention largely overshadowed by other technological and engineering advancements.

As Smiley explains, even at the time of Atanasoff’s invention, the device was not regarded as a breakthrough; university officials threw the original device away to clear space for a new office.