Celeste Hanford • May 03, 2020

I remember in my 4th grade history class seeing photos of women standing in front of large machines during World War II and asking my teacher what those women did. My teacher at the time said that they were posing in front of the machines because they were easy on the eyes. I thought to myself, “With Rosie the Riveter representing the working woman there is no way that these women were merely ‘eye-candy’.” I attempted to learn more about the women only to be dismissed, and eventually I let it go. I never quit wondering why those women were standing in front of that machine. As societal norms have changed so has the perspective from which history is told. Women pioneered Computer Science alongside men. Women’s History is being uncovered by dedicated researchers, and journalists.

It all started with Ada Lovelace, formerly Lady Ada Byron, daughter of poet Lord Byron. When her father went insane her mother believed that math would cure her creative desires. Ada became one of the best mathematicians of her time as a teenager. She met Charles Babbage and his prototype for The Analytical Machine at a party. Ada was the only person at the party who shared his passion for mathematics, and his machine sent her over the top.

His Scottish housemaid was Wilhelmina Fleming, and her team included Annie Jump Cannon, and Henrietta Leavitt among 20 others. These women are responsible for creating star classification system, discovering the Horsehead Nebula, and foundations for Hubble’s Law. Pickering’s Women were some of the first “Human Computers”. A “Human Computer” is a mathematician responsible for checking, writing, and calculating complex problems. During World War I, the military looked to Human Computers for help. Alice Lee, and the Cave Sisters, Beatrice and Francis, helped create trajectories for artillery shells during World War I. Alice was more than just a mathematician, and her dedication to biology discredited the idea the women’s skulls contained less capacity than a man’s skull. Frances Cave is now recognized as “The Mother of Meteorology”. Beatrice Cave helped design airplanes but this was covered up in The Official Secrets Act. Beatrice, along with many others, were never recognized for their contributions due to secrecy and societal norms.

As Tensions increased during WWII men shipped off and women took their places at home. The Women of Bletchley Park, black women included, worked day and night to crack Enigma. The Enigma was a cryptographic machine used to encode German and Italian correspondence. Over 100 women worked at Bletchley secretly for the war effort. Some worked very closely with Alan Turing, some were debutantes, some were Opera Singers, some were actresses, and some were even spies. Many of these women were members of WRENS, including Grace Hopper. Dubbed the “Queen of Software” this Harvard Computing Lab member created the first A-0 compiler, wrote the COBAL computing language, and helped with UNIVAC. Just like the women working with the military during WWI, The Moore’s Computing lab created ballistics tables to improve speed and accuracy. Moore’s Computing lab was responsible for creating the first computers: UNIVAC, BINAC,and ENIAC. The Human Computersbehind the scenes are Jean Bartik Jennings, Betty Holberton, Kathleen Antonelli, Ruth Teitlebaum, Frances Spence, and Marie Wescott Meltzer. These were the women from the photograph, and thanks to Kathy Kleiman’s research their story can be told in The Computers documentary film. They were not “eye-candy”; they were some of the first computer programmers in existence. No matter their contribution these women were essential to saving lives.

Have you ever heard of The Manhattan Project? This project consisted of several facilities during WWII focused on nuclear testing. Manhattanvoicesproject.org compiled oral histories from those involved in the Manhattan Project, many of which were women. They were spread out across many locations and worked in critical secrecy to create the world’s deadliest weapons. Leis Meitner established the first theory of nuclear fission, and actually created the term “nuclear fission.” About 70 people in total in the science and technician fields were held by women. Thanks to all of the efforts of The Manhattan Project's research on plutonium and uranium the Allies won WWII with the nuclear bomb. This technology also helped create good things like MRI machines, cancer treatments, and power generators.

When WWII ended many women, who helped create and design computing machines were being displaced by returning veterans looking for work. Women persevered by continuing to push the limit. Women, of all races, are responsible for societal advancement in technology and science especially. If you have a home alarm system you can thank Marie Van Brittan Brown. Her husband would work long hours so she created an alarm system equipped with two-way microphones, alarms, and remote locks. If you know someone who’s had cataracts removed then you can thank Patricia Beth for her work in lasic. If you use GPS to get where you want to go you can thank Dr. Gladys West. In 2018 she was inducted into Missile Pioneer’s Hall of Fame for modeling the Earth. If you use BlueTooth on your trip you can thank Ms. Hedy Lemarr. During WWII she helped develop missile guiding systems for torpedoes using spectrum hopping. This technology made the first versions of WiFi, and BlueTooth possible. In 2014 she was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame.

Even the moon landing trajectories were calculated by women. In the 2016 film Hidden Figures the hidden story of four African-American mathematicians advanced the space race. It all started at Langley Research Center. During World War I Langley Research Center was established by the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) as the first aeronautics research center in 1917. This establishment housed the largest constructed wind tunnel which remained active until the 1940’s. The fuel that kept these projects going was generated by Human Computers. In the short video documentary, “When Computers Were Human” Vera Huckle, Hellen H. Willey, and Marie Butcher were asked about their time at Langley. Ms. Huckle was in a leadership role and organized NASA’s computer systems. She ended up staying with the company for 31 years, and advocated for other women’s advancement in mathematics. Hellen H. Willey continued to work at NASA for 33 years as well. These women were all grossly underpaid and considered “sub-employees”. Langley Research Center soon grew from about 900 to over 3,000 employees as the space race picked up speed.

During this time both black and white women worked side by side calculating the trajectories, false gravity, and wind tunnel experiments that would help us win this race. Although they liked one another’s company these women were segregated for housing and dining facilities as set forth by President Wilson’s segregation laws. Enter the initial four women I mentioned: Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan, Mary Jackson, and Christine Darden. Dorothy Vaughan was one of the first African-American supervisors at Langley and dedicated almost 30 years of her life to advancing aeronautics. Katherine Johnson, who was briefly on Vaughan’s team, and calculated the trajectory that sent Alan Shepard into space. She also helped calculate the trajectory of the Apollo 11 flight that took Americans to the moon. Katherine dedicated her life to science and technology. During her final years she worked hard to provide STEM opportunities to women. Mary Jackson was recruited to work at NACA in 1951 as a research mathematician. A colleague encouraged to further her education to participate in the wind tunnel experiments as an engineer, so she did. By 1971 she had actually earned the highest title within the engineering department at Langley.

Christine Darden was recruited by NASA, formerly NACA, to be part of the “computer pool”. She kept working to improve her education and eventually became an innovator for sonic boom technology. For many decades these women, as well as many others mentioned in this article, weren't recognized. In 2015 President Barack Obama awarded Katherine Johnson The Congressional Medal of Freedom. Our current President, Donald Trump, awarded these four women The Congressional Gold Medal of Honor in November, 2019. There are 17 Congressional Gold Medals of Honor awarded to women including Mother Teresa and Rosa Parks. NASA also renamed one of their Virginia Facilities, "Katherine Johnson Independent Verification and Validation Facility."

A few more women who deserve to be mentioned are Jeanne Crews, Sally Ride and Stephanie Kwolek. Jeanne Crews helped develop the protective sheeting for spacecraft for the international space station. It is a material lighter and stronger than aluminum. When Stephanie Kwolek created Kevlar while working at Dupont, they almost threw it away because it came out a milky color instead of clear. She fought for her work to be tested, and it turns out she created a fire-resistant fiber stronger than steel.

Sally Ride started working for NASA in 1978. She started working at NASA shortly after earning her PhD in Physics at Stanford University. Sally Ride was the first woman in space, and she was also the youngest person to ever travel to space. She has spent over 300 hours of her life in space. After her time at NASA Sally dedicated much of life to advocating science in upper elementary, and middle school for girls. These ladies are just a few that made it all possible. There are so many more women who deserve to be acknowledged outside of this small school newspaper article. I hope learning about some of the great things women have done for the world have inspired you to learn more. No matter their contribution, big or small, the female sex certainly contributed to creating our connected world. We can all achieve our dreams with the ability to adapt and advance in mind. 

No one said it would be easy; they said it would be worth it.