Reviews The Man Who Invented the Computer by Jane Smiley Share this:EmailFacebookTwitterPinterestPocketRedditPrint By Science News October 22, 2010 at 9:28 am The best-selling author tells a quirky tale of John Atanasoff, an Iowa physics professor who in the 1930s pursued the dream of faster calculations. THE MAN WHO INVENTED THE COMPUTER BY JANE SMILEY Doubleday, 2010, 256 p., $25.95.