The ENIAC Programmers

In a field that is male dominated, it is common to hear about the history of men who have played a role in shaping the field of computer science. However, as long as this field has been around, there have been women who have played a pivotal role in its history. These women range from individuals like Ada Lovelace, who wrote the first computer program, to Grace Hopper, who wrote the first compiler. Another group of women computer scientists who have shaped computing history are the ENIAC programmers.

During WWII as men were enlisted in the army, positions for “computers” became available for women (4). These “computers” worked to do things like calculate ballistic missile paths by hand. Women were able to get these jobs in part due to the low status associated with these jobs (4). A large group of computers were at the University of Pennsylvania doing this work when the Army agreed to fund the first electronic computer to do this work (1). This computer was known as the Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer. Six “computers” were assigned to learn how to program this machine to calculate the trajectories in 1945. These women were from the University of Pennsylvania and their names were Kathleen McNulty Mauchly Antonelli, Jean Jennings Bartik, Frances Snyder Holberton, Marlyn Wescoff Meltzer, Frances Bilas Spence and Ruth Lichterman Teitelbaum.

Due to a lack of clearance, the women began their work without having access to this computer in the beginning, only the blueprints and logical diagrams (1, 5). They also didn’t have access to a programming language and instead needed to use physical manipulation of switches and wires to get the machine to make the correct calculations (1, 5). They programmed this computer to calculate ballistic trajectories despite obstacles like how buggy the machine was (for example vacuum tubes often burned out) (5). This machine and its abilities were shared with the public in 1946 (1). After working on the ENIAC, these women went on to add other contributions to the field of computer science (1).

Although the programmers of the ENIAC did very important and influential work, they were not recognized at the time for their achievements (1, 3). In pictures they were referred to as “models” for the computer system and did not receive any formal recognition (3). It was not until Kathy Kleimen rediscovered them and spent years recording their histories from the libraries at the University of Pennsylvania that they began to have the chance to have their work recognized (2). Kathy formed the ENIAC Programmers Project and made it her mission to research and record their stories so others could learn from them (2). She recognized the power that the ENIAC programmers had to inspire the next generation. Kathy worked with documentary producers and submitted what she discovered through years of research about these women to various awards such as a spot in the Women in Technology Hall of Fame (2).

Although history attempted to erase these women, their achievements have been recognized later through documentaries and through winning awards such as being recognized in the Women in Technology Hall of Fame. Their story reminds us as a collective that women are not new to the field of computer science and have always been a part of its history. It also helps illustrate the way that computing has changed over time. In a time when computing was not considered a valuable job, women were in it, and now that it is a high status job we see low rates of both women and members of other minority groups in computing. By celebrating these women and their accomplishments, we can make it clear to the next generation of women that there is a place for them in computer science and computation in general. Women belong in computing and can do so much, like the ENIAC programmers.