Sheldonian
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The ENIAC was the first programmable, electronic, general-purpose digital computer, completed in 1945.
The ENIAC six:
Kay McNulty, Betty Jennings, Betty Snyder, Marlyn Wescoff, Fran Bilas and Ruth Lichterman
Not only did the women have to translate their calculations into steps that the ENIAC could handle, but they also had to literally wire the machine, said Kathy Kleiman, historian, author, and founder of the ENIAC Programmers Project, in a 2018 TEDx Talk. “They had to track each piece of data, wire it into a panel, such as a multiplier or a ‘square rooter,’ and then move the result — physically by wire — to another panel for storage,” she said.
https://www.codecademy.com/resources/blog/eniac-six-women-programmed-computer/
Sauce https://www.instagram.com/share/reel/_m3L-X69Y
(Part 2 of the video if you don't want to go to Instagram, but do it to promote that channel which is pretty great
https://i.imgur.com/XslvrNK.mp4 )
Klaumbaz
It's where the term Debugging comes from. Literally removing moths from short circuit the wires.
knotch2
I learned this in school 17 years ago. Impressive milestone in the tech field.
zoeytg
It's why one of my favorite quotes is, "We stand in the shoulders of giants." Those 6 women are some of many giants for which humanity today owes its progress to. Its moments like this video I'm reminded what it took so that I can casually use a device with ease.
Blunderwriter
Now to be recognized not at all...sigh...
GaldorOfNihlem
Not to shit on what this post is saying, but ENAC was not the first programmable computer, that was the Colossus developed by the British, while not programmable with digital code, it was programmed by changing the switches physically. However that was the first digital computer.
spazztastic
Problem is IT is still full of white male assholes
KittyKlimt6
Good she delivers how they got recognized. Those stories sometimes as equally unbelievable as the original stories. Wait till you hear about the woman discovering Olympe de Gouges. (It's late, Im tired, I don't remember the name and its difficult to Google but its worth the research)
Dzzz
I was curious if they helped Alan Turing. It would be interesting to find out how they collaborated. Well, if sexism didn't probably keep them apart. All I found is this
Glitchoff
Ada Lovelace.
phaedrus642
This is incorrect. Although possibly excusable. The first digital computer was invented by John Vincent Atanasoff and Clifford Berry at Iowa State University. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atanasoff%E2%80%93Berry_computer
iLikedItTheWayItWas
Funny how in times of war all societal standards and norms go out the window. Same thing happened during the space race with the women who programmed the first NASA computer. War can drive very progressive thinking, because winning is all that matters.
OhIfIMust
It's not ironic at ALL that they weren't invited; it's par for the fucking course.
sisuandserenity
Don't know why this isn't upvoted more. I'm a female senior software engineer. My work is constantly questioned, and my male colleagues often take the credit. Times havent changed much, unfortunately.
mercmech
Yeah, I remember ENIAC. I had to pilot a giant robot, fight countless enemies, and go back in time to swap out a vacuum tube on it. This was all to prevent a super-intelligent AI from destroying humanity.
htapoicoS
Funny how every country has "the first ___ computer". It's all about being better as a nation
MasterMookie
I mean they're not forgotten.
Markodgt
Back when America was a somewhat competent country.
RIxspacexCK
The first answer was 42
purinketsu
Did the end of the video get redacted?
youlookedatmyusername
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manchester_Baby
TheFishFace
The first description of Eniac is wrong - it wasn't the first electronic digital computer - that was Colossus. But the longer description is right.
Snoman314
Hate to break it to you, but ENIAC was the first _American_ programmable electronic computer. The Brits beat you by a couple of years with Colossus.
erinaceus
my first computer was a univac, so thats something.
SomeKindOfEye
could it run doom?
Sheldonian
I bet some nerds would at least try
SorryButMyUsernameIsUnavailable
Oh the good ol' days when a bug actually was a... bug.
Pseudobatrachotoxin
Yeah, the first one was a moth caught between contractors on one of the relays.
usernametakenisthestoryofmylife
It's all computer!
[deleted]
[deleted]
TooDeepInComplaints
Help computer
Zorbick
I remember in college reading an old old paper where it started it with lamenting how the paper was late to the previous conference because his calculator died. It took me several paragraphs before I realized he meant a Calculator. As in a person with a title.
Putitinyomama
lovehandlesmessiah
One fucking thread. Can we get one thread without mentioning him?
kewakl
no names were given
lovehandlesmessiah
It’s been all over Imgur and other sites. Idiot quotes spread faster than Texas measles.
ugopb4me
Wow… everything computer!
Hurch
Sounds like something a moron might say. It sounds like that because it IS something a moron might say.
GravyEducation
So much women, the best women
MyusernameisLostOne
I LoL'd
ChareAndFlaff
"We've got binders full of women!" Oh wait, a different politician said that.
alcamar
No, I'm pretty sure he said that too
Squossifrage
The first programmable, electronic, general-purpose digital computer was the Colossus, built by Tommy Flowers at Bletchley Park in 1943 (Mk I) and 1944 (Mk II). A total of twelve units of the latter model were made. However, their existence was kept secret until the 1970s, while the ENIAC was made public in 1946.
MotionOfTheOcean
Yes, but this is about the women who have been stripped of their achievements in history of science.
mjcherbert
was casting around to confirm someone had already mentioned this ... not to take away from anyone involved in ENIAC ... saw the reconstructed one in place at Bletchley Park in 2007 which was a thrill ...
CarlBassett
Also, the worlds first computer to be owned by a business, and the first to be used to run a business (stock control, accounting, production planning etc) was LEO, built by Lyons, a British bakery/cafe chain. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LEO_(computer) Lyons actually designed and built it themselves, and then started making them for other companies. That operation ended up as ICL and is now owned by Fujitsu.
SprinklesMckitten
we have satellites because of the skillset developed from sewing women's undergarmets.
Reality and history dont give a fuck
SamuthNBS
It's mad that women essentially drove modern computing in to existence independently in various countries but were all swept under the carpet by their respective nations. We owe them a lot.
AdorkableFembi
This is true of so many people who had some undesirable traits at their time, like being a woman back then, gay, black and so on; all robbed of the credit for their often history-defining contributions.
Some in the last 40 years have finally been getting the credit due, but almost a century late when they often arent here to see it.
vericon151
And yet people question why we have women’s history month or black history month.
History, learn it as it applies to anything you do in life.
KittyKlimt6
Oh not only modern computing. Without Ada Lovelace there wouldn't even be the idea of coding.
And for GPS & Bluetooth google Hedi Lamarr
Strategicgnomer
Well that's just because men are clearly better... Hence why we need to hide the fact that half of or more great inventors, thinkers, and philosophers are women! Because if we didn't...uh.... Women wouldn't know...erm... That they're the inferior ones.... And men might feel threatened, no no no, not threatened, uhhh... Insulted! By the smarter, no, inferior and uppity women! Yes, that. Ok now, off to steal some ideas from some women and convince myself it was my idea all along! Busy busy!
sleepinggreenidea
It's even more bleak when you look at demographics in computing, data processing, and computer science up through the 70s. The fields were full of women... and then the home computing revolution made it viewed as a lucrative & prestigious field, and almost overnight the demographics shifted and women were pushed out.
pimppapy
People in power continue to do that. The world thinks Steve Jobs and Musk invented all those nice things and they took credit for it. It’s all the people that work for them that deserve the credit
Sheldonian
I had a brain fart and forgot imgur has a minute limit on videos so here's the rest
dharmabumsontheroad
Don’t worry. Soon VP Frump will remove their photos from all archives
PectorialMuscles
Unlikely that will be permanent. Not only are the archives not built that way, they have storage for all of that and more. Librarians are not exactly kindly about being asked to remove volumes from their collection without good reason. Not only that, but previous admins have profiled and suppressed diverse history with little future effect. History's caretakers tend to save and reintroduce purged information after the orders are done with. NASA is a past modern example.
vanderzee
same!
GreenMnM
Awesome. +1.
PinkEater
"worked twice a hard to be recognized half as much." Power statement.
HandoB4Javert
https://bletchleypark.org.uk also deserves a mention as they were sworn to secrecy despite their achievements during WWII.
hval019
So you possibly now know that Eniac was not the first programmable computer.
The first, by a long shot, was the Babbage Analytical Engine.
Then you have the Zuse Z1, Zuse Z2, Zuse Z3, the Atanasoff–Berry computer, and of course the Colossus, a computer designed by a team led by Tommy Flowers (of the British General Post Office) at Bletchley Park, the UK's codebreaking center.
mmmerf1
This is an important bit of history which needs remembering.
VaultGirl69
Women of color also angered doctors at the end of slavery. This topic has always interested me. Their success rates were higher, and therefore they were made spectacles of in awful fashion, including an incompetent character in a Charles Dixons novel. Some were made to go to classes with doctors who would tell them their methods were wrong. Many doctors invented their own devices with no oversight, and some tools were often deadly. Their impact has stood the test of time and I'm glad for that.
5m4llP0X
There's an amazing documentary about them called Top Secret Rosies: The Female "Computers" of WWII that my teacher had us watch.
KitchenClean
Very beautiful, but I'm still sad, I see only 5 older women in the picture. Someone died without getting credit.
djangojazz
I'm a man but think women have so much larger part in programming than given credit for. Grace Hopper pretty much invented the compiler and was way too modest about it. And Heddy Lamar, yes the fucking actress, invented frequency switching with another person in her spare time that made later inventions like Bluetooth possible.
DriveByPianist
She (Heddy) even applied for a patent (though i think it got rejected). She came up with the idea of frequency hopping while watching a piano getting tuned
koops
Sheldonian
No you can't. Or at least not in the app I also put the link to the second part on the description
koops
Hmm. Seems to be a newer app limitation. Boo. I was still able to edit mine. Oh well.
Sheldonian
Oh so I remembered right. It was possible to do it but for some reason they took away that capacity
slevinkelevra
I don't know how it was possible before, but now you have to make the post private, then add new stuff, then make it public again. I did this once and all comments are gone + the point count is reset, so it's basically like a new post. I didn't check though if the same URL applies. Also I saw IIRC the upvote downvote got confused by this and still added the old number up, but the resulting count was nulled.
koops
Just had a look and in the new app you have to make it hidden, add pictures, save, make public again. It recreates a new url then. Boooo! I stand corrected. You can’t add them to an existing post AND kept the same url. 🤬