The Award is in honor of the physicist and inventor of the first electronic computer - the famous scientist of Bulgarian origin, Dr. John Atanasov. The son of a Bulgarian immigrant who became an electrical engineer, Atanasov held positions as a teaching professor, a governmental wartime research director, and a corporate research executive before being recognized in the 1970s and 1980s for digital electronic computer research he conducted at Iowa State College in the late 1930s and early 1940s.

Partly due to the drudgery of using the mechanical Monroe calculator, which was the best tool available to him while he was writing his doctoral thesis, Atanasov began to search for faster methods of computation. At Iowa State, Atanasov researched the use of slaved Monroe calculators and IBM tabulators for scientific problems. In 1936 he invented an analog calculator for analyzing surface geometry. The fine mechanical tolerance required for good accuracy pushed him to consider digital solutions.

According to Atanasov, several operative principles of the Atanasov - Berry Computer (ABC) were conceived by the professor in a flash of insight during the winter of 1937 - 1938 after a drive to Rock Island, Illinois. With a grant of $650 received in September 1939 (the equivalent of $8403 in 2010) and the assistance of his graduate student Clifford Berry, the ABC was prototyped by November of that year.

The key ideas employed in the ABC included binary math and Boolean logic to solve up to 29 simultaneous linear equations. The ABC had no central processing unit (CPU), but was designed as an electronic device using vacuum tubes for digital computation. It also used separate regenerative capacitor memory that operated by a process still used today in DRAM memory.

Atanasov's first national award for scientific achievements was the Order of Saints Cyril and Methodius, First Class, Bulgaria's highest scientific honor bestowed to him in 1970, before the 1973 court ruling.

In 1990, President George H. W. Bush awarded Atanasov the United States National Medal of Technology, the highest U.S. honor conferred for achievements related to technological progress.

Since the middle of the month of August this year, in Bulgaria began the campaign for The Presidential Awards "John Atanasov" for 2012.

We invite all ABEC members who fulfill all terms and conditions for the awards to apply for the competition. You can find detailed information about the awards as well as the rules for the work of the commission and the criteria's for evaluation of the candidates here: http://www.president.bg/ja_nominacii_2012.php

If you have questions you can call 02/92 39 106, send e-mail to nagradajohnatanasov@president.bg or contact:

Anna-MarieVilamovska, PhD

Secretary for Healthcare, Education and Science of

the President of the Republic of Bulgaria

1123 Sofia

2 Dondukov Blvd.

Tel. +359 2 923 91 77