Women and computing
Ellen Spertus, Denise Gürer · Encyclopedia of Computer Science · 2003
Women have played a primary role in computer programming since its origins in the mid-1800s. Augusta Ada Byron, Countess of Lovelace (q.v.) introduced many concepts of computer programming, such as arrays, loops, and subroutines, in the context of Babbage's Analytical Engine (q.v.). When computers became a reality in the late 1940s, the world's first programmers were women. Using nothing but the machine's specifications, six women programmed the ENIAC (q.v.): Kathleen Mauchly Antonelli, Frances Bilas (Fig. 1), Betty Jean Bartik, Frances E. Holberton, Ruth Teitelbaum, and Marlyn Meltzer. In addition, Grace Murray Hopper (q.v.) was the first programmer of the Mark I at Harvard University, Ethel Marden (Fig. 2) wrote the first program on the SEAC (q.v.) at the National Bureau of Standards, and Ida Rhodes wrote the first program on the UNIVAC I, which was used by the US Social Security Administration.