Women in the History of Computing Technology

Mary Allen Wilkes is a former computer programmer and hardware engineer, known for her work with the LINC (Laboratory Instrument Computer), the first minicomputer and a forerunner to the personal computer. She is also widely regarded as the first person to use a computer in a private home and the first developer of an operating system (LAP) for the LINC.

Mary Allen Wilkes was born in 1937. She graduates from Wellesley College with a degree in Philosophy in 1959. Shortly after graduation, however, she decides to enter the computing field and, hence, starts working at the MIT Lincoln Laboratory. It is there that she simulates the LINC system on the TX-2 computer, develops a number of different LINC operating systems, and designs the LINC Console. During this period of time Wilkes also works extensively on the LINC at her own home, thus becoming the first home computer user.

In 1965, Mary Allen Wilkes leaves MIT to begin working in the Computer Systems Laboratory at Washington University in St. Louis. As part of the Macromodular System Project there, she designs the multiply macromodule. Shortly after its completion, she leaves the computing branch for good and goes to law school. Currently she is an arbitrator and practicing attorney in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Sources

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

• -- Mary Allen Wilkes (Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia)
• -- Mary Allen Wilkes (Vintage Computer Festival website)
• -- Article for IEEE Annals of The History of Computing: The LINC @ 45: A Paradigm Shift in 1962 (DigiBarn Computer Museum)