World War II

Many years ago I remember reading a book by Kate Hafner, “Where Wizards Stay Up Late: the Origins of The Internet.” (Non-affiliate Amazon link to the book for information purposes only.) It was a fascinating read, but I don’t remember any information about six women who were responsible for hacking into ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer) and making it easier for the folks who followed behind them to access and develop the monster leviathan that is the great-great-great-great-granddaddy of the laptop I’m using to write this entry.

World War II was coming to an end and the Army had a unique shortage — not enough male mathematicians. The ABC news story (featured in the screen cap above the text and accessible here) “First Computer Programmers Inspire Documentary” tells the story of five women who stepped forward to fill that void. Their stories have been recorded by historian Kathy Kleiman and the women — Jean Bartik, Marlyn Meltzer, Kathleen Mauchly Antonelli, Betty Snyder Holberton, Ruth Lichterman Teitelbaum, and Frances Bilas Spence — are the subject of the resulting documentary “Invisible Computers: The Story of the ENIAC Programmers.”

These women were so discounted by history that they weren’t invited to the 40th anniversary of the ENIAC project and Kleiman only found them after seeing a photo of them standing by the massive computer. Assured by a computer historian that the women were just there as window dressing, Kleiman didn’t buy it and made it her work to track them down and find out the true story.

This is not just the tale of the dawn of the computing age in the closing days of World War II, but also a shocking look at sexism of the rankest order in the United States that persisted well beyond the war years. For more on the documentary, which I can hardly wait to see, click here.)

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Looking for more blogs to read? Try “Once Upon A Time” at the HogwartsHerald.com or “Pleasing Holiday Guests” at EarthlyEating.com.

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WWII, World War II, ENIAC, computer history