Ada Lovelace Day

It is Ada Lovelace Day an international day celebrating the achievements of women in technology and science.

Ada Lovelace

Wikipeadia's Ada Lovelace page will tell you all you need to know.  She is the world's first programmer and that makes her the earliest adopter of the Information Age and geek of the highest order.

On the off chance you imagine Ada Lovelace's contribution is an isolated instance of the fairer gender's impact on Computer Science and Programming below is list of some other ladies Rocking Out (source).

Out of the list, Grace Hopper is my personal hero. Go Navy!  She is responsible connections style for my software development career.  Dad went from WWII Airforce radio man to job with IBM, to programming missile tracking systems, to programming Marine payroll in COBOL (a language the use esp within Navy/Marines Rear Admiral Hopper pushed for).  Sometime in there I was born and dad got microcomputer to use for work at home / fun and let me "play" on it. 

By anonymous request Jeri Ellsworth -- She is best known for, in 2004, creating a Commodore 64 emulator within a joystick, called Commodore 30-in-1 Direct to TV. The "computer in a joystick" could run 30 video games from the early 1980s.  Just to prove not all are "stuffy" academic/researcher type. 

Allen, Fran

• Made significant contributions to compiler research
• First woman to become an IBM Fellow
• http://www.witi.org/center/witimuseum/halloffame/1997/fallen.php
• http://domino.research.ibm.com/comm/pr.nsf/pages/news.20020806_fran_allen.html
• http://www.cs.yale.edu/homes/tap/present-women-bio.html
• www.cse.ohio-state.edu/ocwic/docs/legendsincomputing.pdf

Antonelli, Kathleen (Kay) McNulty Mauchly

• One of the first computer programmers
• One of the pioneers in programming the ENIAC
• http://www.cs.yale.edu/homes/tap/past-women-cs.html
• http://www.edu-cyberpg.com/Teachers/cwomen.html
• http://www.witi.com/center/witimuseum/halloffame/1997/eniac.php
• http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Biographies/Antonelli.html
• http://www.ieee-virtual-museum.org/collection/people.php?id=1234744&lid=1

Bartik, Jean Jennings

• One of the pioneers in programming the ENIAC
• http://www.edu-cyberpg.com/Teachers/cwomen.html
• http://www.witi.org/center/witimuseum/halloffame/1997/eniac.shtml
• http://www.nwmissouri.edu/compserv/Museum/JeanBartik.htm
• http://inventors.about.com/od/bstartinventors/p/Jean_Bartik.htm
• http://www.smartcomputing.com/editorial/dictionary/detail.asp?guid=&searchtype=&DicID=17846&RefType=Encyclopedia

Borg, Anita

• Founder of Systers (first online community for women in computing)
• http://www.anitaborg.org/about/history/anita-borg/
• http://anitaborg.org/
• http://www.girlgeeks.org/innergeek/inspiringwomen/borg.shtml

Burks, Alice

• One of 75 female "computers" working at the University of Pennsylvania's Moore School of Engineering to perform calculations necessary to create firing and bombing tables
• http://www.cs.yale.edu/homes/tap/past-women-cs.html

Chen, Marina C.

• Research includes design and implementation of Fortran-90 compilers for high performance platforms
• Chair of the Computer Science Department at Boston University
• President of Cooperating Systems Corporation
• http://www.cs.yale.edu/homes/tap/present-women-bio.html
• http://www.crpc.rice.edu/newsletters/sum96/pp.chen.html

Clarke, Edith

• First woman to earn MSc. Degree from MIT in EE in 1919
• Received patent in 1921 for a graphical calculator
• First woman to teach engineering at University of Texas, Austin in 1947
• http://www.cs.yale.edu/homes/tap/past-women-cs.html
• http://www.thocp.net/biographies/clark_edith.html
• http://www.distinguishedwomen.com/biographies/clarke.html
• http://www.utexas.edu/faculty/council/2000-2001/memorials/AMR/Clarke/clarke.html
• http://www.ieee.org/web/aboutus/history_center/biography/clarke.html
• http://www.ieeeghn.org/wiki/index.php/Edith_Clarke
• http://www.mdarchives.state.md.us/msa/educ/exhibits/womenshall/html/clarke.html
• http://www.agnesscott.edu/LRiddle/women/clarke.htm

Davis, Ruth

• Provided leadership at the National Bureau of Standards
• President and Founder of the Pymatuning Group
• http://www.cse.scu.edu/~rdavis/html/homepage.html

Dayhoff, Ruth

• Wrote Information Processing Standards and also wrote about the object-oriented properties of MUMPS
• http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=35334&coll=portal&dl=GUIDE&CFID=5036368&CFTOKEN=78675091
• http://www.nlm.nih.gov/changingthefaceofmedicine/physicians/biography_76.html

ENIAC Women

• 
  
  Antonelli, Kathleen (Kay) McNulty Mauchly
• Bartik, Jean Jennings
• Holberton, Frances Snyder (Betty)
• Meltzer, Marlyn Wescoff
• Spence, Frances Bilas
• Teitelbaum, Ruth Lichterman
• First to program with machine language and first to program with ENIAC
• First “computers” used to make calculations for tables of bombing and firing trajectories
• http://www.gecdsb.on.ca/d&g/women/women.htm
• http://ei.cs.vt.edu/~history/50th/October.html
• http://www.edu-cyberpg.com/Teachers/cwomen.html
• http://www.witi.org/center/witimuseum/halloffame/1997/eniac.shtml
• http://eniacprogrammers.org

Estrin, Thelma

• Recognized for her computer contributions to brain research and healthcare technology
• http://www.cs.ucla.edu/csd/people/faculty_pages/testrin.html
• http://www.girlgeeks.org/innergeek/inspiringwomen/testrin.shtml

Forsythe, Alexandra

• Co-authored a series of textbooks on computer science during 1960s and1970s
• http://www.cs.yale.edu/homes/tap/past-women-cs.html

Fox, Margaret R.

• Electronics engineer in radar at the Naval Research Station in Washington
• Chief of the Office of Computer Information in the NBS Institute for Computer Science and Technology
• http://www.cs.yale.edu/homes/tap/past-women-cs.html
• http://www.cbi.umn.edu/collections/inv/cbi00045.html
• http://www.smartcomputing.com/editorial/dictionary/detail.asp?guid=&searchtype=&DicID=18118&RefType=Encyclopedia

Goldberg, Adele

• Led design team for Smalltalk
• Worked in creation of first window- and icon-based user interface
• http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?AdeleGoldberg
• http://www.princeton.edu/~adele/
• http://www.cs.umd.edu/hcil/muiseum/goldberg/goldberg_page.htm

Goldstine, Adele

• Wrote Manual for the ENIAC which detailed the machine down to its resistors
• http://www.cs.yale.edu/homes/tap/past-women-cs.html
• http://www.ieee.org/web/aboutus/history_center/biography/goldstine.html
• http://www.dcs.qmul.ac.uk/~uhmm/women/history.html

Goldwasser, Shafi

• Research areas include complexity theory, cryptography, and computational number theory
• Two-time winner of the Goedel Prize in theoretical computer science
• http://people.csail.mit.edu/shafi/
• http://www.acm.org/press-room/news-releases-2008/athena-award-08/?searchterm=athena+award

Granville, Evelyn Boyd

• First African American woman to earn a Ph.D. in Mathematics (Yale,1949)
• Developed computer programs used to analyze trajectories in the MercuryProject (first manned U.S. space mission) and in the Apollo Project (sending U.S.astronauts to the moon)
• http://www.cs.yale.edu/homes/tap/past-women-cs.html
• http://www.agnesscott.edu/LRIDDLE/WOMEN/granvill.htm
• http://www.math.buffalo.edu/mad/PEEPS/granville_evelynb.html

Griswold, Madge

• Helped develop the Icon Programming Language
• http://www.cs.arizona.edu/people/madge/
• http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=155363&coll=portal&dl=ACM&CFID=5063357&CFTOKEN=77195173
• http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?coll=GUIDE&dl=GUIDE&id=155363

Haibt, Lois

• Developed arithmetic expression analyzer, an essential component of the FORTRAN compiler
• http://www.inf.fu-berlin.de/lehre/SS01/hc/pl/fortran.htm
• http://ei.cs.vt.edu/~history/50th/October.html
• http://npt.cc.rsu.ru/user/wanderer/ODP/Fortran/PRORES.HTM
• http://www.fortran.bcs.org/2007/jubilee/film.php

Hamilton, Margaret

• Founded Higher Order Software and Hamilton Technologies, Inc.
• http://hrst.mit.edu/hrs/apollo/public/people/mhamilton.htm
• http://www.klabs.org/home_page/hamilton.htm

Hayes-Roth, Barbara

• Author of the Guardian system
• http://ai.eecs.umich.edu/cogarch2/authors/hayes-roth.html
• http://www.ksl.stanford.edu/people/bhr/

Holberton, Frances Snyder (Betty)

• Created first sort-merge generator
• Involved in development and standardization of FORTRAN and COBOL
• http://www.uri.edu/personal/csul7234/bettyholberton1.html
• http://www.witi.com/center/witimuseum/halloffame/1997/eniac.php
• http://www.livewirecom.com/columns/97.05.html
• http://www.witi.org/center/witimuseum/halloffame/1997/eniac.shtml
• http://www.cbi.umn.edu/oh/display.phtml?id=22
• http://gcn.com/Articles/2002/01/05/Computer-pioneer-Betty-Holberton-dies-at-84.aspx

Hoover, Erna Schneider

• Invented a computerized switching system for telephone traffic and received one of the first patents for software ever awarded
• http://www.cs.yale.edu/homes/tap/past-women-cs.html
• http://web.mit.edu/invent/www/ima/samplepages/hoover.pdf
• http://mediatheek.thinkquest.nl/~ll160/contents/inventors/ernahoover.htm
• http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blhoover.htm
• http://www.answers.com/topic/erna-schneider-hoover
• http://www.ieee.org/web/aboutus/history_center/biography/hoover.html

Hopper, Grace Murray

• Developed first compiler (A-O)
• Major influence in acceptance and standardization of COBOL
• http://www.cs.yale.edu/homes/tap/Files/hopper-story.html
• http://www.wic.org/bio/ghopper.htm
• http://www.cs.yale.edu/homes/tap/past-women-cs.html
• http://ei.cs.vt.edu/~history/50th/October.html
• http://www.agnesscott.edu/LRIDDLE/WOMEN/hopper.htm
• http://www.sdsc.edu/ScienceWomen/hopper.html
• http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Mathematicians/Hopper.html
• http://myhero.com/myhero/hero.asp?hero=gracehopper

Jensen, Kathleen

• Co-author of PASCAL User Manual and Report
• http://www.cs.inf.ethz.ch/~wirth/books/Pascal/

Keller, Sister Mary Kenneth

• First woman to receive doctorate in computer science in US
• Participated in the development of BASIC
• http://www.computinghistorymuseum.org/teaching/papers/research/steel.pdf

Liskov, Barbara

• Developed CLU in the 70s, Argus in the 80s, and Theta in the 90s
• CLU influenced development of ADTs
• http://www.pmg.lcs.mit.edu/barbara_liskov.html
• http://www.pmg.lcs.mit.edu/CLU.html
• http://genealogy.math.ndsu.nodak.edu/html/id.phtml?id=61932

Mahowald, Misha

• “Neuromorphic” engineering – the application of analog CMOS VLSI technology to the fabrication of analog electronic circuits that emulate real neural systems
• http://www.witi.org/center/witimuseum/halloffame/1996/dmahowald.php
• http://www.distinguishedwomen.com/subject/invention.html

Meltzer, Marlyn Wescoff

• See ENIAC Women
• http://www.witi.org/center/witimuseum/halloffame/1997/eniac.shtml

Noether, Emmy

• Researched abstract algebra which provided the foundation for Prolog
• http://www-gap.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Mathematicians/Noether_Emmy.html
• http://www.agnesscott.edu/lriddle/women/noether.htm
• http://www.awm-math.org/noetherbrochure/AboutNoether.html
• http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Mathematicians/Noether_Emmy.html

Owicki, Susan

• Researched distributed systems, performance analysis, and trusted systems for electronic commerce.
• http://www.cra.org/Activities/craw/craw/wdp.html
• http://www.usenix.org/publications/library/proceedings/usenix-nt97/usage_abstracts/Susan_Owicki.html
• http://www.informatik.uni-trier.de/~ley/db/indices/a-tree/o/Owicki:Susan_S=.html
• http://fellows.acm.org/fellow_citation.cfm?id=1219047&srt=alpha&alpha=O
• http://www.owickimft.com/profile.html
• http://www.genealogy.ams.org/html/id.phtml?id=22791
• http://infolab.stanford.edu/pub/voy/museum/griestree.html

Pearl, Amy

• Designer and implementer of the Sun Link Service, an open protocol for creating hypertext links between elements of desktop applications
• http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=92757&dl=ACM&coll=portal
• http://www.amypearl.com/

Peter, Rosa

• Founded recursive function theory
• http://www.cs.yale.edu/homes/tap/past-women-cs.html

Polese, Kim

• Driving force behind Java
• President and CEO of Marimba, Inc.
• http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/women/TODTWD98/polese.bio.html
• http://www.fastcompany.com/online/08/polese.html
• http://www.thestandard.com/people/profile/0,1923,1265,00.html
• http://ecorner.stanford.edu/authorMaterialInfo.html?author=203
• http://www.businessweek.com/1997/34/b354164.htm
• http://www.javaworld.com/javaworld/jw-04-1996/jw-04-polese.html
• http://www.transmitmedia.com/svr/vault/polese/polese_transcript.html
• http://www.redherring.com/Home/12411
• http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/4.11/es_marimba.html?person=kim_polese&topic_set=wiredpeople
• http://news.com.com/2009-1082-233118.html
• http://news.com.com/2100-1023-243672.html?legacy=cnet
• http://www.girlgeeks.org/innergeek/inspiringwomen/polese.shtml
• http://jeremy.zawodny.com/blog/archives/002772.html
• http://www.itconversations.com/shows/detail640.html

 
Ryder, Barbara G.

• Professor of Computer Science at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersy
• Worked at Bell Laboratories which developed Unix, C, and pcc.
• http://www.cs.rutgers.edu/~ryder/
• http://www.informatik.uni-trier.de/~ley/db/indices/a-tree/r/Ryder:Barbara_G=.html
• http://www.cs.vt.edu/whatsnews/barbara_ryder_to_head_cs_department.html

Sammet, Jean E.

• First group leader for programmers in the engineering organization of Sperry Gyroscope
• One of first to teach computer courses for academic credit
• Supervised initial specification and design of COBOL compiler on MOBIDIC
• Authored "Programming Languages: History and Fundamentals"
• President of ACM in the 1970s
• http://laika.ed.csuohio.edu/fall98/edb567/Women_in_computers/JeanESammet.htm
• http://www.csupomona.edu/~plin/inventors/sammet.html
• http://hopl.murdoch.edu.au/showperson.prx?PeopleID=2

Seneff, Stephanie

• Research and development of computer speech recognition
• http://www.sls.lcs.mit.edu/seneff
• http://www.sls.lcs.mit.edu/sls/people/seneff.shtml
• http://andosl.anu.edu.au/icslp98/Steph.html
• http://groups.csail.mit.edu/sls//people/seneff.shtml

Spence, Frances Bilas

• See ENIAC Women
• http://www.witi.com/center/witimuseum/halloffame/1997/eniac.php

Srinivasan, Srinija

• http://www.namasthenri.com/nrioftheweek/srinija.html
• http://www.sawnet.org/whoswho/?Srinivasan+Srinija
• http://www.copacommission.com/report/statements/srinivasan.shtml

Teitelbaum, Ruth Lichterman

• See ENIAC Women
• http://www.witi.com/center/witimuseum/halloffame/1997/eniac.php

Winters, Joan Margaret

• Implemented and designed SPINDEX II, an archive and manuscript management system
• http://www.cs.yale.edu/homes/tap/past-women-cs.html
• http://doe.sd.gov/octa/ddn4learning/themeunits/women/Science.htm
• http://mason.gmu.edu/~montecin/CS103/lec11-computer-hist-web.htm
• http://www.cbi.umn.edu/collections/inv/cbi00022.html

Wohl, Amy

• President and Founder of Wohl Associates consulting firm.
• Pioneered office automation and ergonomics
• http://www.wohl.com

Zimmerman, Joan

• Helped develop MUMPS and wrote Introduction to Standard MUMPS
• http://openlibrary.org/a/OL1167163A