Throughout history, women have been the backbone of technological innovation. The following page will explore some important women who have changed technology as we know it today.
- Ada Lovelace was taught science and mathematics at an early age to avoid falling to "poetic
tendencies." She later became a key worker on Charle Babbage's Analytical Engine. Her notes on
machine are considered the first algorithm, making her the world's first computer scientist. So,
yes, histories first computer scientist was a women, girls do rule.
- Grace Hopper was one kickass woman. She was not only one of the world's first female computer programmers,
but the first woman to graduate from Yale with a Ph.D in mathematics, and the first woman to reach the rank
of Admiral in the United States Navy. Yeah, she's pretty cool.
- On Betty Holberton's first day at the University of Pennsylvania, her male professor told her
that she would never have a career and mathematics and should go back home and raise children. Boy
did she prove him wrong. Holberton was hired by the Moore School of Eningeering to be one of the first computors
to work on ENIAC and helped develop the UNIVAC as the Chief of Programming Research. She also worked with
Grace Hopper to develop the early standards for COBOL and FORTRAN. Holberton was the only woman
to receive the Augusta Ada Lovelace Award in 1997.
- The ENIAC Programmers consisted of six women involved in a secret project
during World War II. They developed the first all-electronic programmable computer, but
never got credited for their work due to the fact that computer science was not
viewed as a legitamate area of study at the time.