Since March 8, Habradevchek! Outstanding women in the world of computer technology

The world of information technology is often called the world of men. But this is far from the case. Women brought a lot of effort to its formation and development. Unfortunately, the merits of many of them did not receive due public attention and recognition in the form of the social “norms” of the times when they performed truly miracles. Now society has changed. Of course, a prejudiced attitude towards a person with an eye on his nationality, religious beliefs, orientation and gender is still found. Perhaps even more often than we would like. However, some 50 years ago, everything was even more complicated. "This is not a woman's business - to collect computers" - such a phrase could be heard very often. Today I would like to introduce you to women for whom it was not difficult to create something in the IT world, but it was difficult to talk about it, because few people were willing to listen. Go.

Ada lovelace


December 10, 1815, Anna Byron gave birth to little Augustus. The father of the girl was the famous poet George Byron. However, the girl's father did not recognize her love. The great poet was famous for his unusual, let's say, tastes in the field of personal life. On April 21, 1816, he divorced Anna Byron and left England. After that, Augustus began to be called Ada, since the first name was given to her in honor of her father’s sister. Ada's mother, according to some historians, was also not distinguished by a strong parental instinct and left her daughter for a long time in order to go on a wellness trip.

However, it is worth paying tribute, the mother brought little Ade to her former teacher - the mathematician Augustus de Morgan and Mary Somerville. That was the beginning of the future mathematical, with your permission, Ada's career.

At the age of seventeen, Ada met the mathematician Charles Babbage, who at that time was a professor at the University of Cambridge. This acquaintance became fateful for both of them. The fact is that several years before Babbage had written his epoch-making work describing the operation of a calculating machine, which was able to perform calculations with an accuracy of up to 20 characters. The mechanism was extremely difficult, but this did not deter the government, and in 1823 Babbage received funding for the creation of this apparatus. Unfortunately, the complexity of the machine was one of the reasons for its incompleteness. It was built 10 years without success, which led to the cessation of funding in 1833.


Charles Babbage

In 1842, Charles Babbage went by invitation to the University of Turin to give a lecture on his computer. Ada during these 10 years managed to marry husband for Baron William King (who later inherited the title of Lord Lovelace) and give birth to three children. However, this did not prevent her from paying maximum attention to her true vocation — mathematics.

Let's return to Babbage and his lectures in Turin. One of the listeners was Luigi Menabrea, who made lecture notes in French. These records were published in the Public Library in Geneva. Subsequently, Charles Wheatstone (physicist) asked Ada Lovelace to translate this work into English and supplement it with his own comments. For about a year, Ada worked on these records. As a result, her comments were as much as 52 pages.

One of these comments:

The distinctive characteristic of the Babbage analytical machine and the fact that it was possible to endow the mechanism with such extensive properties to make it an executor of abstract algebra tasks — all thanks to the introduction of the principle that Jacquard developed to control the most complex patterns in the production of brocade products. It is safe to say that the analytic machine weaves algebraic models in the same way that the Jacquard weaving machine weaves flowers and leaves.

In his comments, Ada also describes several algorithms for solving certain problems:

• Algorithm for solving two linear algebraic equations with two unknowns. Thanks to this program, the concept of “working cells (variables)” appeared, as well as the idea of ​​a gradual change in their content;
• Algorithm for calculating the values ​​of a trigonometric function with multiple repetitions of a given sequence of computational operations. In this algorithm, Ada first used the term "cycle";
• Recurrent nested loops for calculating Bernoulli digits.

It is these comments that are considered the first programs. Ada, later, was the first programmer in the history of mankind.

Ada Lovelace has proven that a brilliant mind is not the prerogative of men only. She never stopped on her laurels, always in search of answers to her questions:

I will never be too pleased that I understand something, because even sorting out some thing, as far as my abilities allow, my understanding is only an infinitesimal part of everything I want to understand about the connections and relationships that occur with me, which implies a question that was born at the very beginning in my head.

Unfortunately for the entire scientific community, Ada Lovelace passed away in 1852, at the age of only 36 years. Who knows how many discoveries and scientific works she could create if her life had not been interrupted at such a young age. However, even what she managed to do was enough to change the world.

Edith Clark



What should a girl dream at the beginning of the twentieth century? About her husband, children and home comfort. Many have dreamed about it, but not Edith Clark.

Edith was born on February 10, 1883 in a large family (in addition to her there were 8 more children). Parents raised her by the standards of the then society, not forgetting about the education of his daughter. She studied Edith in a boarding school for girls, where she studied Latin, literature and history. A lot of attention was paid to arithmetic, algebra and geometry. At age 12, Edith had to face a tragic event - the death of parents. She was brought up by her older sister. The legacy left by her parents, Edith used extremely wisely, enrolling in Vassar College, where she studied mathematics and astronomy. Already in 1908 she graduated with honors.

After receiving her education, Clark became a teacher of physics and mathematics at a school for girls in San Francisco. However, this profession could not satisfy the inquisitive mind of a true scientist.

For a short time, Edith Clark studied civil engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, but quit her studies and in 1912 got a job at AT & T for the position of computer calculator (people involved in computing before the advent of computers). During this period, she made calculations for George Campbell, who was engaged in the application of mathematical methods in solving problems of transmission over long distances. In parallel, the work of Edith attended classes at Columbia University. But this was not the last place to get knowledge for Edith. In 1918 she enrolled at the MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) Massachusetts Institute of Technology. An extremely prestigious institution where people are not taken from the street. She studied great and a year later received a master's degree in electrical engineering.

Young and full of energy with an inquisitive mind and a huge store of knowledge. What else does an employer need? However, it was extremely difficult for a girl to find a job at that time, no matter how many degrees she had. And Edith wanted to work in her specialty. However, she became a computer dispatcher at General Electric.

The inability to do exactly what you want, did not slacken Edith's scientific enthusiasm. She invented the Clark calculator — a fairly simple graphical device for solving equations with electric current, voltage, and resistance in power lines. This calculator was able to solve hyperbolic functions 10 times faster than the predecessor method. In 1921, Edith Clark filed a patent application, and in 1925 he was successfully executed.


One of the pages of the patent for the Clark calculator.

In 1921, Edith's patience snapped and she left General Electric, where she did not get the desired position. She began teaching at the Women's College of Constantinople in Turkey. However, as early as next year, General Electric hired her again, giving her the long-awaited position of engineer in the central engineering and technical department. She worked Clark until 1945.

Two years later, she became a professor of electrical engineering at the University of Texas at Austin. Thus becoming the first woman to occupy this position.

In addition to the above, it is worth noting its other achievements. In 1926, at the annual meeting of the American Institute of Electrical Engineering, Edith Clark presented her work in which she described the use of hyperbolic functions in calculating the maximum power that a transmission line can withstand without loss of stability.

The same institute awarded it with two prizes:

• 1932 - Best Regional Paper Prize (Best Scientific Work at the regional level);
• 1941 - Best National Paper Prize (Best National Science Work).

In 1943, Edith Clark wrote a paper that had a strong influence on the power industry, Circuit Analysis of AC Power Systems.

Edith Clark proved to all that a woman can be not only the keeper of the hearth, but an outstanding scientist. And she showed everyone that success can only be achieved through hard work and perseverance, the desire to understand something that is supposedly incomprehensible and improve something that is supposedly perfect.

About the attitude to the woman, she said the following:

The demand for female engineers is not as great as for female doctors. But there is always a demand for those who can do a difficult job well.

ENIAC women


For a start it is worthwhile to briefly tell what ENIAC is. This is an electronic numerical integrator and computer (ENIAC - Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer) - the first electronic digital computer.

The history of the birth of this machine is full of random chance and pure luck. The year was 1942, there was a second world war. An extremely important element for the military was ballistic tables, which contained information on the amendments of the sight in accordance with various variables (barrel angle, projectile velocity, air temperature, wind force, wind direction, etc.). Without these tables, getting right on target was extremely difficult, sometimes even impossible. Calculations involved in the laboratory of ballistic research of the US Army. Everything was done manually. To create one table consisting of 3000 possible paths, one calculator took about 4 years. The fact is that each of the 3000 trajectories required 1000 settlement operations. In the conditions of war, such periods are extremely long,


John Mockley

In August 1942, John Mockley , a teacher at the Moore Institute, wrote a small (7 pages) work entitled The Use of High-Speed ​​Vacuum Tube Devices for Calculation, in which he described the possible advantages of using vacuum tubes when creating an electronic computer. However, the leadership of the institute treated this innovation with disdain and sent the work to the archive, where it was completely lost.


Herman Goldstein

About a year later there was a conversation between the curator of the institute’s interaction with the ballistic laboratory Herman Goldstein and one of the institute’s staff, in which the second casually mentioned a certain Mokli and his unusual work. Goldstein became interested. He found Mokli and invited him to speak to the laboratory with his vision of computing. On April 9, 1943, the project was submitted for consideration by the laboratory management under the name “electronic diff. analyzer. This title didn’t specify what it will work and how, because Mocli was still afraid that his innovative views would be accepted with skepticism and no one would want to realize them. Fortunately, the project was approved and funding was allocated.

The computer was completely ready only in 1945. Serve for the benefit of the Allies, he could not, because the war was over. However, he found a new application - calculations related to thermonuclear weapons, weather forecasting on the territory of the USSR for the retold nuclear fallout vector, as well as ballistic tables, including for nuclear weapons.

The creation of this technical miracle involved only men. However, the operators, who can now be called programmers, were women. Working with such a machine was not easy: 17468 vacuum tubes, 1500 relays, 70,000 transistors, 7,200 silicon diodes, 10,000 capacitors, and about 5 million hand-welded connections. This computer weighed about 27 tons and occupied an area of ​​167 m2.

Each of the six female programmers ( Marilyn Melzer, Ruth Likhterman, Francis Elizabeth Snyder, Kathleen Rita McNulty, Francis Bilas, Betty Jean Jennings ) knew the machine thoroughly, because the quality of their work and the speed of its execution depended on it:

Since we knew both the software and the machine itself, we learned how to diagnose problems at the level of, if not better, engineers. (Betty Jean Jennings)

The complexity of the work of programmers manifested itself even in the process of creating the machine. The project was classified, and no one, not even female operators, was allowed to enter the car. IM had to work on the programs, relying solely on the drawings. The programming process itself was not based on any language and was very “physical” - it was necessary to switch certain plugs in order to organize the necessary route to a specific block in a parallel progression.

The ENIAC computer, despite its power, was extremely "capricious." Vacuum tubes failed with an enviable regularity, because of which the machine was idle for almost half the working time. This case was later corrected. But before that, it was women’s operators who literally came to climb inside the car for troubleshooting.

When ENIAC was disassembled in 1947 and transported to a ballistics laboratory in the city of Aberdeen, Kathleen McNulty, Ruth Lichterman, and Francis Bilas followed him. The rest decided to retire.


A ballistic laboratory in the city of Aberdeen It is

regrettable that the role of these women in the work of ENIAC has been greatly diminished. During the ENIAC public presentation in 1946, their names were not even mentioned, although the work they did was critical and very complex. The press also did not complain about female operators, refusing to publish photographs in newspapers in which one of them could be next to the computer.

Only after many years, in 1997, all six received recognition worthy of their contribution to science. All of them were included in the Women's Hall of Fame (Women in Technology International Hall of Fame).

Life after ENIAC



Marilyn Melzer (1922 - December 4, 2008) left the project in 1947. Moving away from the world of technology, Marilyn became a volunteer, led an active social life, trying to help with what could everyone who was in need.


Ruth Lichterman (1924–1986) after transporting ENIAC to Aberdeen worked there for another 2 years, becoming the last of the original six who left the project (September 10, 1948). All this time, she has taught the future generation of programmers, often using her personal experience with ENIAC.



Francis Elizabeth Snyder (March 7, 1917 - December 8, 2001), having left the project, did not leave science. She worked at Remington Rand (computer maker) and the US National Institute of Standards and Technology. In 1959, she became the head of the research department of programming and the laboratory of applied mathematics at the David Taylor Model Basin (experimental pool, where the hydromechanical qualities of objects are tested). Francis took part in the development of UNIVAC, having designed a control panel (it was she who decided to place the numeric keypad next to the letter keyboard). Francis Snyder also insisted on using gray, not black, color for the "exterior" of computers. Subsequently, it was the gray color that became generally accepted.

Ms. Snyder was also in the group of authors of the first generalized programming system SORT / MERGE. Developed a decision tree for the function of binary sorting using a simple deck of playing cards. Wrote code to use groups of 10 tape drives to read and write data during the process. Francis Snyder created the first set of statistical analyzes that were used for the US census in the 1950s.

From 1953 to 1966 she held the position of head of the advanced programming department at the laboratory of applied mathematics of the Navy in Maryland.

Worked with John Mockley when creating a C-10 instruction set for BINAC. Together with Grace Hopper, she also took part in the development of the original standards for the programming languages ​​COBOL and FORTRAN.


Kathleen Rita McNulty (February 12, 1921 - April 20, 2006), after working with ENIAC in Aberdeen, designed software for computers, including BINAC and UNIVAC I. She was one of those who wanted to convey to the public the importance of their team’s work in the process. ENIAC: wrote articles, spoke to the scientific community, gave interviews. It was thanks to her efforts that the work of six distinguished women was marked by the inclusion of their names in the hall of fame in 1997.


Francis Bilas (March 2, 1922 - July 18, 2012) after the events of 1947 continued to work with ENIAC for some time. However, after marriage and the birth of the first child, I decided to give myself completely to my family.


Betty Jean Jennings (December 27, 1927 - March 23, 2011). After completing work on ENIAC, Betty took part in the development of BINAC and UNIVAC I. It was on the BINAC computer that she programmed the guidance system for Northrop Corporation (the aircraft manufacturer). Engaged in the development of logic gates for UNIVAC.

Each girl from the six first ENIAC programmers had not only a painstaking approach to performing complex tasks, but also outstanding knowledge in the field of mathematics and electrical engineering. The work that they performed was not “mechanical”; it required a serious and attentive approach and knowledge “in the face” of every detail of the machine. Not the fact of their superiority deserves attention and respect, but the work itself that they have done, work that influenced the future of the computer world.

Grace Hopper


Practically everyone connected with computers or the navy knows about this outstanding personality. But to mention Grace once again will not be superfluous.

Grace was born on December 9, 1906 in New York. From the early years of her life, Grace was extremely inquisitive. She always wondered how things around her work. In order to satisfy her curiosity, Grace dismantled 7 alarm clocks, which her mother was not very happy about. Before entering college, Grace studied at the Wardlow-Hartridge Special Pre-College School. At the age of 16 she first tried to go to Vassar College, however, due to a lack of points in Latin, she did not pass. It didn’t hit Grays enthusiastically much, and a year later she did well.

Her hard work in training has borne fruit in the form of a bachelor's degree in mathematics and physics, as well as a Phi Beta Kapp diploma.

* Phi Beta Kapp is the oldest student community in the United States (founded in 1776). Accepted 1 out of 100 students. The main requirements are high moral qualities and academic knowledge. Being a member of this community is a great honor for the student.

The next step was to get a master's degree at Yale University.

After training, in 1934, Grace defended her thesis on "New Types of Irreducibility Criteria", receiving a doctorate in mathematical sciences. This was followed by a very successful career as a professor of mathematics at Vassar.

In addition to outstanding knowledge and talents in science, Grace Hopper was a true patriot and a brave man. At the height of the Second World War, Grace joined the United States Navy. She was not physically suitable for this (the standard weight for recruits was 54 kg, and Grace weighed only 47 kg), but she was accepted.


Having successfully completed the cadet school and received the rank of junior lieutenant, Hopper was assigned to serve in the artillery computing service at Harvard University. It was then (1944) that a significant event occurred for the entire scientific community - the creation of the first programmable computer in the USA - Mark I. Hopper put a lot of effort into the project and co-authored several articles on this device.

Grace worked at Harvard until 1949, abandoning her previous job as a professor of mathematics at Vassar. Afterwards, Hopper became a senior mathematician at Eckert – Mauchly Computer Corporation, where, along with other scientists, she started developing the UNIVAC I computer, which became the first of its kind on the market in 1950 and surpassed Mark I in information processing capabilities.


Hall UNIVAC I

At that time, programming was treated very conservatively. One day, Grace suggested using English in programming languages, but her idea was rejected, arguing that “machines do not understand English”. However, Grace was not used to giving up, so she continued to work in this direction. In 1952, she published a work about her new invention - the compiler.

No one could believe that I had a working compiler and no one even wanted to touch it. They told me that computers can only work with arithmetic.
...
Manipulating characters is good for mathematicians, but not for data handlers who are not manipulators of characters. Only a few are. And they become professional mathematicians, rather than working with data. For most people, it is much easier to write in English than to use symbols. Therefore, I decided that those who process the data should have the opportunity to write their rentals in English, and computers will have to translate them into machine code. This was the beginning of COBOL, a programming language for data processing. I can simply say "extract income tax from wages" instead of writing it on octal code or using all variations of symbols. COBOL is the main language used in data processing.

Everyone liked the idea of ​​compilers, even skeptics bit their tongues. And in 1954, Grace Hopper took the position of head of the automation department of the programming process at Remington Rand (which took over Eckert – Mauchly Computer). The first compiler-based programming languages ​​were created - MATH-MATIC and FLOW-MATIC.

In 1959, the Conference on the Languages ​​of Data Processing Systems (CODASYL) was created, the main task of which was to create a standard programming language for commercial systems. The result of the work was the COBOL language, which was based on the very idea of ​​Hopper about using English instead of machine code.


COBOL Creators

From 1967 to 1977, Grace Hopper led the programming department in the planning department of the US Navy's information systems, where she created software for COBOL and its compiler.

Grace Hopper was certainly a brilliant scientist, but also an incredible workaholic. After retiring, in 1986, she became a chief consultant at Digital Equipment Corporation, where she worked until her death.

In addition, Grace regularly lectured, where she spoke not only about past achievements, but also shared thoughts on the current state of technology.


Grace Hopper after receiving the title of Commodore

Contribution to the development of science and the Navy were marked by numerous awards and titles. In 1985, Grace Hopper received the rank of Commodore (one of the highest military ranks in the US Navy).

One amusing incident immortalized the name of Grace Hopper as much as her scientific activities. In 1947, the Mark-2 computer was developed at Harvard. But something was wrong. The machine did not want to work. After the inspection a moth was found stuck in the relay and blocking the signal transmission. The “culprit” of the breakdown was attached to the written report with the postscript “First actual case of bug being found.” (The first case when a bug was found). Grace loved to tell this story, for which she was credited with actually writing that very report, although according to some sources this was not the case.


First actual case of bug being found

What was definitely known was that Grace Hopper knew how to convey even the most complex scientific concepts to the minds of even the most distant people. Grace told me that once a high-ranking military officer asked her why satellite messages go so long. This gave her the idea of ​​explaining this “on the fingers”. A piece of wire 30 cm in length - this is the distance overcomes the light in one nanosecond. Grace demonstrated this wire and said: “this is how much the signal overcomes in 1 nanosecond, and before the satellite there are very, very many such segments”. Grace also had a 300-meter-long wire with him at the lectures, demonstrating the distance that light travels in 1 microsecond. And to demonstrate 1 picosecond (one trillion fractions of a second), a grain of ground pepper served,


Grace Hopper tells what a nanosecond

is. Unfortunately, even the greatest people cannot run away from time. On January 1, 1992, at the age of 85, Grace Hopper passed away. She was buried in Arlington Cemetery with all military honors.

An outstanding mathematician, physicist, pioneer of the computer and software world, Grace Hopper has always been a wrestler, a daredevil who will never surrender even in the face of insurmountable, as others believe, difficulties.

Evelyn Boyd Granville


It was extremely difficult for a woman in the 50s to reach heights because of a descendant who put society on her. But who could be even more difficult? It was more difficult for a black woman. Evelyn Boyd Granville felt the severity and cruelty of the society at that time, but she did not give up.

Evelyn was born on May 1, 1924 in Washington. It was a period of great depression, when there was no money, no work to get them. My father worked where he could, but later left the family. And Evelyn and her older sister were raised by their mother and aunt.

Evelyn received her secondary education at Dunbar School, which at that time was exclusively for blacks. At the same time on the issue she read a farewell speech. The fact is that the role of valedictorian (from Latin vale dicere - say goodbye) is chosen only graduates with the highest total score. Thanks to the financial support of her relatives and the educational organization Phi Delta Kappa, Evelyn entered Smith College for Girls in 1941. During the training period, she was included in the ranks of Sigma Xi (a society / organization for outstanding scientists and engineers, founded in 1886) and Phi Beta Kappa. After graduating in 1945, thanks to college scholarships, Evelyn was able to take part in a graduate program in mathematics and was accepted to study at two eminent universities at once - Yale and Michigan. She chose the first in mind financial support from them. It should be noted right away that people could get a good education with money. If the student was counting on the support of the educational institution itself, he should have demonstrated remarkable knowledge. At Yale, Granville studied functional analysis and wrote a doctorate about the Laguerre polynomials, which she successfully defended in 1949.

Even with such outstanding input data (education, dissertation, etc.), a black woman at the time did not expect anything and everyone with open arms at the exit. In 1950, Evelyn got a job as a teacher at a college for black students in Nashville.

In 1951 there was a very unpleasant and disgusting case. Evelyn and two other black girls wanted to attend a regional meeting of the American Association of Mathematicians. But the meeting was held in the hotel “for whites only”, and they were simply not allowed.


A year later, Granville moved to Washington, where she began work at the Harry Diamond Research Laboratory, which was famous for developing a radio fuse (a fuse that allows you to blow a shell at the right distance, without physical contact (impact) with a target) during the Second World War. After working in the lab for 4 years, Evelyn became a programmer at IBM.

In 1967, Evelin Granville was appointed a professor of mathematics at the University of California at Los Angeles, where she worked until 1984. After that, she held a teaching position at Texas College, and then at the University of Texas. During this period, Evelyn developed her own method of teaching mathematics for the lower grades.

Evelyn took an active part in the space program, when in the 60s she worked on various projects swaying the Apollo program. She had to work in such areas as celestial mechanics, trajectory calculation, and digital computer technology.

The most sensitive event for Evelyn Granville was a doctoral degree in mathematics in 1949 at Yale University. It was a fact of recognition of her mind, her talents. She became the second African woman to achieve this.


Now Evelyn has many titles, received for many years of scientific and teaching activities. But this is not comparable with the same doctoral degree. This, roughly speaking, the title is given to people with a large store of knowledge. But if you are a woman, also a black woman, you had to show twice as much. And Evelyn did it.

Mary Kenneth Keller


One of the very common stereotypes is the incompatibility of science and religion. Representatives of these two areas are not always able to reach consensus among themselves. But there are people who can combine faith and science. Such a person was nun Mary Keller, part-time doctor of computer science.

Mary was born in 1914 in the city of Cleveland (Ohio). Very little is known about Mary’s early life, which cannot be said about her career.

In 1932, Mary joined the Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Already in 1940, she took her vow. In parallel, Mary studied at the University of De Paul, where she received first a bachelor of mathematics (1943), and then a master's degree (1953). During her studies, Mary Keller worked at the universities of Michigan, Purdue, and Dartmouth.

In 1958, Mary, along with John Kemeny and Thomas Kurtz, created the BASIC programming language. The work took place within the walls of Dartmouth College, which at that time were exclusively for men.

In 1965, Keller wrote her dissertation on the topic “Inductive Inference on Computer Generated Patterns”, the essence of which was the creation of an algorithm in CDC FORTRAN 63 for analytic differentiation of algebraic expressions. This work brought her doctoral degree. The uniqueness of this is not only in her work, which was really outstanding, but also in the fact that she became the first woman to receive a doctorate in computer science (computer science) in the United States.

Mary Keller sought not only to know the world of computers, but also to share knowledge with others. She founded the computer science department at Clark College (now a university). It was the first department of such a direction in a small educational institution in the USA. In the same year, the National Science Foundation allocated a grant in the amount of $ 25,000 (at that time there were huge funds) for training equipment for undergraduate studies.

The main mission of Keller was not so much the discovery or invention of something new, but the dissemination of knowledge among the younger generation. She was absolutely sure that computers in the future would become extremely important tools in the learning process:

For the first time, we can mechanically model a cognitive process. We can conduct research in the field of artificial intelligence. In addition, this [computer] mechanism can be used to help people learn. As we have more mature students over time, this type of training is likely to become increasingly important.

Mary Keller showed everyone that a man of faith keeps abreast of the times and does not eschew modern technology, that a simple nun can be a computer genius. The main message of Mary was simple, but it is no less important - the acquired knowledge must be transferred to others, and for this you need to use all the advantages of the available technologies.

Stephanie Shirley


Even in early childhood, Stephanie had not sweet, then there was a struggle for knowledge, then a struggle for the right to work what she wanted. But in the end she still managed to achieve success.

Stephanie was born on September 16, 1933 in Dortmund. These were difficult times for the country, since the Nazis came to power. This had an effect on the Stephanie family like no one else, and all because her father was a Jew. 9 months before the start of the war, Operation Kindertransport was carried out, the main task of which was to bring out children whom the Jews recognized (on the basis of the Nuremberg racial laws). Stephanie, who at the time of the operation was 5 years old, and her sister, nine years old, was transported to the territory of Great Britain, and then transferred to foster parents for upbringing.

While studying at a school for girls in the town of Ozuestri, Stephanie had a problem - they did not teach mathematics at this school. But that did not stop her. It received permission to attend math lessons in the school for boys. At that time, it was nonsense and moveton. But she didn't care. At the end of the school, Stephanie did not enter the university, since the girls were accepted only to the botanical faculties, which she was absolutely not interested in. Instead, she began a job search where she could apply her technical knowledge and skills. In the 50s, Stephanie worked in the research and development department of the General Post Office (British postal and telecommunications operator), where she assembled computers from scratch and went on machine language. Having a job did not mean that you no longer need to learn.

In 1959, Shirley began working for CDL Ltd, where she participated in the design of the ICT 1301 computer.


ICT 1301

Stephanie has always believed that women have the full right to work in the same areas as men, and to receive a salary that depends on their work, and not on their gender. Therefore, in 1962 she took control of the situation, and with a budget of $ 100 (by today's standards), she founded Freelance Programmers. The main feature of her company was that only women worked there (not counting 3 men out of 300 employees). It was a challenge to society, business and academics. They laughed at such an idea, twisting a finger at the temple. The company was engaged in programming, that is, the creation of software. According to Stephanie, even this was wild at the time, because the software was bundled with iron. Who will buy software separately? However, bribed and customer base grew. As a result, Freelance Programmers was valued at $ 3 billion, what made her employees millionaires. And all because 1/4 of the company Stephanie donated to her staff. This practice of common ownership was new in those days. In addition, many employees worked at home, the main thing for them was having a telephone to communicate with the main office.

In 1975, the Sex Discrimination Act was adopted, which equalized the rights of men and women in different spheres of public life. After that, the purely female team, Stephanie, was forced to be “watered down” by male employees. Shirley never spoke against men in the company, and her decision to create jobs for women was extremely important for all the girls and women of that time who wanted to work on something great rather than stand at the stove.

Stephanie's words:

Who would have thought that Concord’s black box software would be written by a bunch of women sitting at home

In those days, I used to use the name of Steve in business documentation and correspondence in order to at least cross the threshold before someone realizes that He is She

Stephanie thought that after those terrible events of her childhood with a forced relocation to the UK, nothing would happen to her any worse. However, fate decreed otherwise. Her 2.5-year-old son was diagnosed with autism. It was the first blow for Stephanie, as for the mother. The second was the death of a child.

Such misfortunes, such grief often push people into the abyss of despair and apathy towards the whole world. But Stephanie did not give up. She decided that other children diagnosed with autism should get a chance for recovery and normal life. In 1986, she founded the Shirley Foundation, a charitable foundation whose main goal was to help combat autism. Stephanie helped establish the standards for the education of such children, whereas earlier they were simply not taught at all, considering it hopeless. She also allocate funds for various studies of this disease and the search for methods of its treatment.

I wanted my life to be such that it was worth saving (I mean operation Kindertransport)

And she did it. Stephanie Shirley made a huge contribution to the development of the computer world, the establishment of gender equality in society, especially in business, and became one of those who are fighting for the future of children suffering from autism. Mathematician, businesswoman and mother. Not everyone can combine all this, but Stephanie was able to.


Speech by Stephanie Shirley

Epilogue

Women are an integral part of the life of the planet, the life of our civilization. And I'm not talking about childbirth and home comfort. Although not without it. When it comes to great scientists, outstanding athletes or talented writers, one should not single out their gender in the first place, look at their work, their achievements, their lives.

Neither gender, nor orientation, nor religion, nor any other differences from one another can prevent a person from receiving knowledge on an equal basis with others and be able to use this knowledge for the benefit of society. Whoever you are, you are first and foremost a person.

This list is objectively subjective. If we listed all the outstanding women in the world of computer technology, it would be very long. But if we talk about subjective opinion, my personal opinion, then the most outstanding woman for me will always be my mother. And not because she gave birth to me, because it is simple biology, but because she raised me, raised me, invested in me an understanding of the surrounding world. She taught people to appreciate their mind and soul, taught them to forgive and ask for forgiveness. She taught to think and analyze, work tirelessly and sacrifice herself for the good of others. Hard life, filled with grief and loss, crippled her, but not broken. Any mother should find strength in herself for the sake of her child, and mine is just that. Yes, this is a very personal insertion into an article about the IT world, yes, this should not concern anyone of you. It may even be childish somehow, but for our mothers, no matter how old we are, be it 15 or 45, we are always children, their children. Remember this and, even if you are sure that your mother is doing well, everything is as usual and nothing new, give her a call, at least for a few words. For they deserve this and more.

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