Daily Staff Writer

A replica of the Atanasoff-Berry computer will be home in time for Veishea commemorators to observe.

A team comprised of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Ames Laboratory and Iowa State scientists, faculty and students have built the replica “to continue the Antanasoff-Berry legacy.”

The Antanasoff-Berry computer, or ABC, was the first electronic digital computer designed and built in 1939 to 1942 by ISU physics and mathematics professor John Atanasoff and engineering student Clifford Berry.

The replica has been on tour of the Midwest since October and will continue to tour until the year 2000, said project manager John Gustafson.

Gustafson added that the original ABC was dismantled with a hacksaw to make room for more projects. Only the log and memory were saved and donated to the Smithsonian Institution.

The cost of the project totaled $360,000, and Gustafson estimated that about 6,000 “man hours” have gone into rebuilding the ABC.

To protect viewers and the machine, the ABC replica will not compute during Veishea but will be placed in a protective glass case.

Ames Lab’s open house, featuring the ABC replica, will run April 17, from noon to 4 p.m., and April 18, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. in Room 205 of the TASF building.