In the just-released February 2011 issue, Philadelphia Magazine sends a wake-up call to the town: Don’t stand there and let Iowa get all the glory!  It explains that Smiley’s book is trying to give Atanasoff all the credit for the idea of the electronic computer and Philly is, well, oblivious.

Read the whole article here:  PHILLY MAG

An excerpt:

“But a growing group of Iowans, perhaps miffed that their state is best known for a not particularly nutritious vegetable, would have you believe that it was their Midwestern home that begat this world-changing technology. In October, Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist and former Iowa State University professor Jane Smiley published The Man Who Invented the Computer. In it, she vilifies Mauchly and argues that he stole the intellectual property of ISU physicist John Atanasoff, who had developed a computing device of his own, the Atanasoff-Berry Computer, in the late ’30s.

“But more alarming than Iowa’s attempt to claim our history is the lack of defense from the city and Penn. Thus far, our civic leaders’ collective response has been, well, nil — and indeed, our city seems perfectly content to let this momentous, revolutionary accomplishment go largely uncelebrated. To wit: While a few pieces of ENIAC sit in some room at Penn, the remainder of surviving pieces lay in some storage room.

“Forgotten.

“Think about it: Say something nasty about the Eagles, and you’ll get an earful from Ed Rendell. Declare New York City our superior in some minor respect, and watch the furor unfold. But the genesis of the computer? Eh, go ahead and take it.”

Many thanks to Victor Fiorillo for the article and the great suggestion:

Make Feb. 14 ENIAC Day!

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