Meghalaya Hospital Where ATM's Inventor Was Born Gets Its First Machine

Born to Scottish parents in Meghalaya, Shepherd-Barron developed the concept of a self-service cash dispenser in 1965

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New Delhi: A hospital in Meghalaya, where John Adrian Shepherd-Barron, the inventor of the ATM was born in 1925, got a machine installed for the first time after almost 53 years since the cash dispenser was installed globally.

According to the PTI report, the official of the health facility informed about the installation of ATM at Dr. H Gordon Roberts Hospital, which will turn 100 next year.

"The teller machine was installed on August 7 after a petition was submitted to State Bank of India for setting up an ATM on the premises before the centennial celebrations of our facility next year," Medical Superintendent of the hospital Dr. Roken Nongrum was quoted in PTI.

Patients admitted in the hospital vicinity will get access to an ATM which will be of immense help to staffers as well.  “We are grateful to the bank authorities for considering our request. The ATM is special as the inventor of the automated teller machine was born in this hospital 96 years ago," Nongrum said.

Who was Shepherd-Barron?

Born to Scottish parents in Meghalaya, Shepherd-Barron developed the concept of a self-service cash dispenser in 1965. His "eureka" moment has been inspired by a machine dispensing chocolate bars.

Shepherd-Barron spent most of his life in Portmahomack in Ross-shire. His machine did not make utilize plastic cards but used cheques that were impregnated with carbon 14, a mildly radioactive substance.

The machine detected the substance that facilitated matching of the cheque against a Pin (personal identification number). The first ATM was installed at a bank in London in 1967. It is interesting to note that Reg Varney, one of the stars of a popular TV show was the first person to withdraw cash from his machine.

He passed away at a hospital in Scotland in 2010.