Celebrations of this year's 100th anniversary of Bulgaria-descended John Atanasoff, who gave birth to the field of digital computing, gather speed in Bulgaria as the day of Atanasoff's birth, October 4, approaches.

On Friday evening Bulgaria's President Georgi Parvanov led a special ceremony to inaugurate a monument of the modern computer inventor.

Atanasoff's son, who bears his name and US Ambassador in Bulgaria James Pardew, who said that the story of John Atanasoff is one Bulgarian-American success story, also joined the event.

John Atanasoff Junior arrived in Bulgaria for the celebrations of his father's anniversary, which that are planned to continue till October 8.

Before the ceremony, Bulgaria's president received John Atanassoff Junior and Microsoft's Vice President Pete Hayes. Parvanov told the guests he decided to found an award named after the great inventor. It will be given out for contribution to informational society.

John Atanasoff, who is son of a Bulgarian immigrant from Bulgaria's village of Boyadjik in the Yambol Region, built the world's first electronic digital computer at US Iowa State University during 1937-42 together with his assistant Clifford Berry. Their creation incorporated several major innovations in computing including the use of binary arithmetic, regenerative memory, parallel processing and separation of memory and computing functions.

In 1990, US President George Bush awarded Atanasoff with the National Medal of Science and Technology. However, throughout all his life, the man emphasized proudly his Bulgarian roots.

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