SCS 2150 Lecture Notes - Lecture 11: John Vincent Atanasoff, Eniac, Human Computer
20 Aug 2016
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Department
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SCS2150
March 2 2016
Quantitative Research continued
-criticisms of quantitative research:
-people and social institutions are treated as if they are part of “the world of nature”
-critics maintain that humans and their actions are fundamentally different from the non
conscious entities that natural scientists study
-therefore, the methods used to study humans must be fundamentally different than those
used to study natural phenomena
-quantitative researchers counter that humans are part of nature, and that science can
therefore be used to understand the human condition
-the measurement process produces an artificial and false sense of precision and accuracy
-problems can arise if people interpret the same survey item differently
Quantitive Research and Computer Intervention
-first digital computer: Abacus
-human computer: one who computes lol
-Atanasoff-Berry Computer (ABC)
-invented and built in 1937-1942
-to speed up solutions of mathematical and statistical problems (quantitative research)
-no patents
-US District Court in 1973 recognized Atanasoff as the investor of the electronic digital
computer (and annulled ENIAC computer patents)
*link to the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KR9nhGIzOuc
-Atanasoff was working with the Monroe calculator (one of the best at the time) to complete his
doctorate in theoretical physics but it was still giving him a hard time
-inspired him to develop a better computing machine
-did not like analog devices as they were slow and their accuracy dependent on the
performance of its inside parts
-received a grant of $650 from Iowa State College in March 1939
-hired an electrical engineering student, Clifford E. Berry
-from 1939 until 1941 they worked at developing and improving the ABC
-was the first electronic digital computing device
-designed with a specific purpose, to solve systems of simultaneous up to 29 linear equations
-the patent application for the ABC was never filed (since it was never patented it was never
known about until the 1960s)
-before this, the Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer (ENIAC) computer was
considered as the first computer
-John Mauchly and J. Presper Eckert's construction of ENIAC, during 1943-1946, lead to a
legal dispute two decades later over who was the actual inventor of the computer
-judge ruled: Eckert and Mauchly did not themselves first invent the automatic electronic
digital computer, but instead derived that subject matter from one Dr. John Vincent Atanasoff
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
People and social institutions are treated as if they are part of the world of nature . Critics maintain that humans and their actions are fundamentally different from the non conscious entities that natural scientists study. Therefore, the methods used to study humans must be fundamentally different than those used to study natural phenomena. Quantitative researchers counter that humans are part of nature, and that science can therefore be used to understand the human condition. The measurement process produces an arti cial and false sense of precision and accuracy. Problems can arise if people interpret the same survey item differently. To speed up solutions of mathematical and statistical problems (quantitative research) Us district court in 1973 recognized atanasoff as the investor of the electronic digital computer (and annulled eniac computer patents)
