Written By: Dr. Minka Zlateva
In November 2009, I had the opportunity to visit the Greenlee School of Journalism and Communication and give a few lectures at Iowa State University in Ames, where John Atanasoff built the famous ABC computer. Indeed, on November 11, 2009, I stood with awe and excitement in front of the replica of the historic ABC computer in Durham Hall with my host Dr. Daniela Dimitrova. Before me was the device that became the milestone of digital computing and ushered a new era of electronic information processing. And on the top floor of the same building, I “peeked” into the office of the so-called father of the ABC and saw his desk, glasses, computing devices, and a display case with his books…Everything was so orderly and neat that I had the feeling that in a few minutes the professor would sit calmly at his desk and continue his precise calculations. In his lifetime, Dr. Atanasoff possessed a unique combination of knowledge in electrical engineering, mathematics and theoretical physics, which paved the way to his ingenious invention. Until the end of his life, he remained down to earth, unusually modest, and amazingly dedicated to science and innovation.
Shortly after this visit, I began my lecture on the topic “Is a new digital civilization being born?” to the faculty and graduate students in the Department of Computer Science. I was excited to see how CS colleagues respond to such a question from the field of communication. It quickly became clear that the topic of information and communication technologies and world culture resonated with the CS audience. At the end of our lively discussion came a pleasant surprise: Associate Professor Gadia, who had met John Atanasoff years ago, brought from his personal library and presented me with the book “Atanasoff: The Forgotten Father of the Computer” by Clark Molenhoff. It was a priceless gift, because John Atanasoff himself and its author – the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Clark Molenhoff – had autographed the book.
After giving a few guest lectures and talks to graduate students and faculty in the Greenlee School of Journalism and who invented the very first digital computer here on the Iowa Communication, I walked across the beautiful university State campus, which combines lots of greenery and trees, old stately buildings as well newer modern facilities. A majestic clock tower rises in the center of the campus, the paths between the buildings are adorned by signs with the names of the most prominent graduates of the university, winners of prestigious American and international awards. My next stop is the Special Collections Archive of Parks Library where I hope to examine some of John Atanasoff’s personal documents. I touch with reverence his awards: the medal “Cyril and Methodius” — first degree awarded in 1970, and the medal “People’s Republic of Bulgaria” — first degree, awarded by the People’s Republic of Bulgaria in 1985 during his second and last visit to our country to participate in the International Conference “Children in the Information Age — Tomorrow’s Problems Today” in Varna. The two awards are stored at the ISU library at the request of Atanasoff’s family, along with many of his books and personal belongings.
I am deeply interested in the question of how Atanasoff forged his own creative path, and what other research problems besides mathematics and physics, which he taught here until 1945, was he engaged with later in his career. Some answers emerge at the end of his 1950 autobiography where John Atanasoff first mentions agriculture as a scientific interest. This is not surprising since his Bulgarian father, Ivan Atanasoff, taught him to grow tomatoes and other vegetables early on, and since he himself used agricultural machinery, which he improved to make difficult agricultural work easier on his farm in Maryland. And I discover passages where Atanasoff shared his dream of developing a “new alphabet” that allows global publics to communicate without barriers.
The second research subject that John Atanasoff unequivocally points to is indeed communication. Here is his personal explanation: “My interest in this subject is very intense and extends from the electrical engineering aspects of communication theory through the realm of what Dr. Norbert Wiener calls cybernetics to coding and other semantic foundations of human communication. During the First World War I maintained an interest in the efficiency of human communication. Much has already been written about the importance of communication to the human race. The fact that it is acquiring a great, ‘primary significance’ in human existence is not well known. The problem of better human communication will become more and more urgent.” What amazing foresight and ability to see the future potential of a new interdisciplinary science, merging the hard sciences and the humanities!
As a result of this memorable visit to ISU, we were able to create an online collaboration between our students at Sofia University, Bulgaria, and Greenlee School students. We embarked on a cross-cultural communication collaboration aligned with the global initiative of the UN “Alliance of Civilizations,” which aims to prevent a clash of civilizations by supporting dialogue and understanding between different cultures and societies in the aftermath of the September 11th attacks. In total, we organized three Bulgarian-American student online meetings with debates about current events and issues in the field of communication in 2009, 2010 and 2011. I initiated this collaboration and partnered with Dr. Daniela Dimitrova, and in the third one – with Prof. Greta Dermendzhieva from Sofia University. Our goal was to increase cross-cultural competence and communication skills for future journalists and public relations professionals.
The discussions were inspiring and frank, and the exchange of ideas led to some long-term friendships, as John Atanasoff predicted back in 1985 in Varna.
Today’s AI tools usher a new era of digital computing. At the dawn of this era, however, it is important to remember that it was John Atanasoff, an American scientist of Bulgarian origin, who invented the very first digital computer here on the Iowa State campus.
Prof. Dr. Minka Zlateva (Ph.D., University of Leipzig, Germany) is Professor (since July 2010 Prof. Emerita) of Journalism and Public Relations at the Faculty of Journalism and Mass Communication (FJMC), the University of Sofia “St. Kliment Ohridski,” Bulgaria. She has developed 12 academic courses on Journalism, PR and Media Literacy in Bulgarian and German and taught at universities around the world. Author of 3 monographs and more then 140 articles in Bulgarian and foreign scientific journals, and book summaries in East and West Europe, USA and China, and Editor or Co-Editor of 17 book summaries on public communication in Bulgarian and English.