Computers were changing the nature of research within the college. The departments of Industrial & Systems Engineering, Electrical Engineering and Computer & Information Sciences were doing advanced research in computer-related fields. This shift began with an engineer: UF alumnus John Vincent Atanasoff. In 1973, Atanasoff was credited as the originator of the modern computer. He had created a prototype of the first digital calculator in 1939, and it possessed many features of modern computers—a binary system, regenerative memory, logical schemes as elements of software and electronic components for storing data.