Computing history and computing future will share the spotlight at the opening ceremonies of an international conference beginning Thursday at Iowa State.

The symposium will honor John Vincent Atanasoff, professor at Iowa State from 1930 to 1942 and creator of the world’s first electronic digital computer.

The International Symposium on Modern Computing will begin with a keynote address by computer pioneer Gordon Bell, senior researcher at Microsoft, Inc., at 7:30 p.m. Thursday in C.Y. Stephens Auditorium.

Bell’s address, “John Vincent Atanasoff — He Made A World of Difference,” will incorporate computing history with the presentation of an exclusive film of Atanasoff.

The film is a 20-minute version of a two-hour interview Bell conducted with Atanasoff, who died in 1995.

Bell’s address will also incorporate computing future. Bell will give his projection of how the world will use high performance computing in 2010, said Carl Chang, professor and chair of computer science.

Bell himself is regarded as a computer pioneer, Chang said. He was responsible for the creation of the first minicomputers and the Digital Vax computer during his 23 years as vice president at Digital Equipment Corporation.

Now a senior researcher at Microsoft’s Bay Area Research Center in San Francisco, Calif., Bell’s latest project involves digitally archiving his life, Chang said.

His photographs, telephone calls and business meetings are all recorded in his local cyberspace as a data collection experiment called the MyLifeBits Project.

Bell has received the National Medal of Technology and the Smithsonian/MCI Information Technology Leadership Award for Innovation.

He is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers and other professional organizations.

“He’s really a pioneer in high performance computing,” Chang said.

Chang is serving as co-chairman of the symposium with S. S. Venkata, professor of electrical and computer engineering.

Opening ceremonies will also include remarks by ISU President Gregory Geoffroy; Alice Rowe Burks, author of “Who Invented the Computer? The Legal Battle That Changed Computing History,” from Ann Arbor, Mich.; and John Gustafson, Principal Investigator, High Productivity Computing Systems, Sun Microsystems, Inc., from Mountain View, Calif.

Also attending is Emil Yalnazov, deputy ambassador of Bulgaria to the United States, from Washington, D.C. Atanasoff’s parents were born in Bulgaria.

Chang traveled to Bulgaria for that country’s celebration of Atanasoff’s birthday earlier this month.

The combined theme of history and future will continue throughout the computing symposium as international computing experts attend sessions and give presentations Friday and Saturday in the Scheman building.

A second event open to the public takes place 7:30 p.m. Friday in Benton Auditorium in the Scheman Building.

Friday’s live video conference, “The History and Future of Scientific Computing,” will feature Stephen Wolfram, president and CEO of Wolfram Research, with introductory remarks by John Vincent Atanasoff II, son of the late inventor.