You have dozens of patents for your inventions. What motivates you?

I am happiest when I am working on the edge of something -- where there are not many people who have done it. When nobody has done it, it is pretty tough. That gets me excited.

When you were working on ENIAC, did you have any inkling these things would be laptop-sized and everyone would own one?

Mauchley thought the world would need maybe six computers. No one had any idea the transistor and chip technologies would come along so quickly. It is shocking to have your life work reduced to a tenth of a square inch of silicon.

A lot of people have claimed they invented the first computer. What about John Atanasoff?