The Presidential Awards "John Atanasov" for 2012 year
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
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