Fountaindale Public Library

Proving ground, the untold story of the six women who programmed the world's first modern computer, Kathy Kleiman

eng

Includes bibliographical references (pages 245-280) and index

collective biography

illustrations

index present

non fiction

Proving ground

bibliography

1335116499

Kathy Kleiman

the untold story of the six women who programmed the world's first modern computer

After the end of World War II, the race for technological supremacy sped on. Top-secret research into ballistics and computing, begun during the war to aid those on the front lines, continued across the United States. Among those researchers were six pioneering women. Kay, Fran, Betty, Marlyn, Ruth, and Jean all had dreams beyond the conventional, hoping to break into the male-dominated world of mathematics and contribute to the war effort however they could. Their goals would prove attainable when the Army began recruiting women for a classified project to calculate artillery equations to be run out of the Moore School, one of the most respected engineering institutions in the country. Given the formidable task of figuring out how to program the world's first general-purpose, programmable, all-electronic computer - better known as the ENIAC - the six women labored tirelessly, studying the ENIAC on paper long before they had clearance to be in the room with it. While most students of computer history are aware of this innovative machine, the great contributions of the women who programmed it were never told - until now. Over the course of a decade, Kathy Kleiman met and recorded extensive interviews with four of the ENIAC Programmers. As the tech world continues to struggle with gender imbalance and its far-reaching consequences, the story of the ENIAC Programmers' groundbreaking work is more urgently necessary than ever before, and Proving Ground is the celebration they deserve

adult