2-16-98

Contact:
Skip Derra, News Service, (515) 294-4917


ISU PRESIDENT JISCHKE AND ABC REPLICA IN SIOUX CITY

AMES, Iowa -- Iowa State University President Martin Jischke and the Atanasoff-Berry Computer replica will be in Sioux City, Monday, Feb. 23. Jischke has several speaking engagements in Sioux City, and the ABC replica will be on display at an alumni reception at the Sioux City Hilton.

At 11:45 a.m., Jischke will speak to the Sioux City Rotary, which will be meeting at the Hilton. Jischke will discuss the role ISU plays in Iowa's economic development. At 1:30 p.m., Jischke will visit Sioux City East High School and speak to students.

The authentic working replica of the Atanasoff-Berry Computer (ABC), the first electronic digital computer, will be on display from 5-7 p.m. at an ISU Alumni Association reception in the Kensington Room of the Hilton. The public is invited to the reception to view the replica.

The original ABC was invented by John Atanasoff and Clifford Berry at Iowa State during 1939-42. Work on the original ABC was interrupted by World War II. The ABC was never patented and eventually scavenged for parts. The replica was built to honor Atanasoff and Berry. The replica was constructed over the past three years by a team of scientists, technicians and students at Ames Laboratory, a U.S. Department of Energy facility at Iowa State.

Sioux City is the sixth stop on the replica's Iowa tour. It has been displayed in Ames, Ottumwa, Dubuque, Cedar Rapids and the Quad Cities. Its formal unveiling was Oct. 8 at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. Other Iowa stops for the replica include Waterloo and Mason City.

- 30 -

Iowa State homepage

University Relations, online@iastate.edu
Copyright © 1997, Iowa State University, all rights reserved
URL: http://www.public.iastate.edu/~nscentral/releases/siouxcity02.16.html
Revised 2/16/98