Women in the History of Computing Technology

"Look like a girl, act like a lady, think like a man, and work like a dog."

"Pre-decision making in the design of a problem, I think, was new. I mean, you know, when you are doing something by hand, when you get to a certain point and the values don't look (right) you may do something else and you proceed. In other words, the human being comes into the computational process somewhere along the line. This was new because everything had to be pre-thought, everything had to be pre-arranged so that the program would follow path. This was new in the area of mathematics per se."

Betty Snyder

Betty Snyder was a one of the six original programmers of the Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer (ENIAC), the first general-purpose electronic digital computer. She, also, makes a significant contribution to the development of the COBOL and FORTRAN programming languages and creates instruction code for the Universal Automatic Computer I (UNIVAC I), the earliest commercially sold computer.

Frances Elizabeth Snyder Holberton was born in 1917 in Philadelphia. Left-handed and cross-eyed, Betty is often made fun of by her classmates while at school. When she goes to the University of Pennsylvania to obtain a higher degree, her math professor tells her she should rather stay at home and raise a family than waste her time pursuing a degree in a traditionally man’s field such as mathematics. Discouraged from his statement but determined to continue her education, she decides to switch to journalism, one of the few study programs open to women at that time.

Later on, when World War II begins, Betty gets another chance to return to mathematics. The U.S. government seeks help from women since most men are off fighting and the Army needs workers to help with computing ballistics trajectories. Snyder is hired by the Moore School of Electrical Engineering of the University of Pennsylvania to work as a human “computer.” By that time “computers” are primarily women whose major responsibility is to carry out computations that guide ballistics trajectories. Hardly having any experience in the field, but a fast learner herself, Betty soon becomes comfortable with her new job. As a result of her excellent performance, she is selected to become one of the original programmers of the Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer (ENIAC), the first general-purpose electronic digital computer. Along with several other women - Betty Jennings, Kay McNulty, Marlyn Wescoff, and Ruth Lichterman, she trains in the IBM punch card equipment that is used as an Input/ Output system for the ENIAC at Aberdeen Proving Grounds. Then having no manuals or ready-made classes, the five women, joined by another human “computer,” Frances Bilas, teach themselves operation and programming of the machine while studying its logical and electrical block diagrams.

Initially, the ENIAC is a classified project and, therefore, the programmers are not allowed to enter the room where the machine is located. Instead, they are given access to different blueprints they can use to develop programs while working in an adjacent room. The programming itself involves discretizing the differential equations involved in a ballistic trajectory problem to the precision allowed by the ENIAC and calculating the path to the appropriate bank of electronics in parallel progression, with each separate instruction having to reach the correct location in time to within 1/5,000th of a second. After working out a program on paper, the women are allowed to enter the ENIAC room and actually program the machine.

Once World War II is over, Betty works at Remington Rand, originally known as a typewriter manufacturer and later on - as the manufacturer of the Universal Automatic Computer I (UNIVAC I) mainframe computers, and the National Bureau of Standards. She makes a significant contribution to the development of the UNIVAC I, writes the original generative programming system (SORT/MERGE), and implements the earliest statistical analysis package used for the 1950 U.S. Census.

Furthermore, Betty helps John Mauchly with the development of the C-10 instruction for the Binary Automatic Computer (BINAC), which is nowadays regarded as the prototype of all modern programming languages. Meanwhile, she becomes Chief of the Programming Research Branch of the Applied Mathematics Laboratory at the David Taylor Model Basin in 1959, and also participates in the development of preliminary standards for the COBOL and FORTRAN programming languages, side by side with Grace Hopper, another pioneer woman in the field of computing.

For exceptional contributions to the field of Computer Science, Frances Elizabeth Snyder Holberton is inducted into the Women in Technology International Hall of Fame in 1997, along with the other original ENIAC programmers - Marlyn Wescoff, Betty Jennings, Kay McNulty, Frances Bilas, and Ruth Lichterman. She is the only one of the six women in the team to receive the Augusta Ada Lovelace Award, one of the highest possible honors for a female computer programmer.

Sources

The information presented above is taken from the following online sources:

• -- Frances Elizabeth Holberton (Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia)
• -- Betty Holberton (WITI Museum, Women Advancing Technology)
• -- Programmed to Succeed: Betty Holberton (Live Wire Communications)
• -- Betty Holberton, software pioneer, 84 (slick.org)
• -- An Interview with Jean J. Bartik and Frances E. (Betty) Snyder Holberton (Computer Oral History Collection, 1969-1973, 1977, Smithsonian National Museum of American History)