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In 1945 six women, chosen from about 200 “human computers” who calculated artillery tables by hand, became the first programmers of ENIAC, one of the earliest general-purpose electronic computers. There were no manuals or programming languages; they learned the machine from its wiring diagrams.

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ENIAC was built at the University of Pennsylvania for the US Army to calculate the paths of artillery shells. It filled a room: panels about 30 metres long, some 18,000 vacuum tubes (glass valves that switch electric current) and 27 tonnes of equipment. Programming it meant setting switches and plugging cables between its units, which could take days. Kay McNulty, Betty Jennings, Betty Snyder, Marlyn Wescoff, Fran Bilas and Ruth Lichterman did this work and could trace a fault to a single failed tube, yet they were classed as “subprofessionals”. When the student Kathy Kleiman found photographs of them in the 1980s, she was told they were probably models posing by the machine. In the 1990s she learned that most had not been invited to ENIAC's 50th anniversary, tracked them down and recorded their stories. In 1997 they entered the Women in Technology International Hall of Fame.

Türkçe oku
1945'te altı kadın, ilk genel amaçlı elektronik bilgisayarlardan biri olan ENIAC'ın ilk programcıları oldu. Topçu atış cetvellerini elle hesaplayan yaklaşık 200 “insan bilgisayar” arasından seçilmişlerdi. Ne kılavuz vardı ne programlama dili; makineyi bağlantı şemalarından öğrendiler.

ENIAC, top mermilerinin izleyeceği yolu hesaplamak için ABD Ordusu adına Pennsylvania Üniversitesi'nde yapıldı. Koca bir odayı dolduruyordu: 30 metre kadar uzanan paneller, akımı açıp kapayan 18.000 kadar cam elektron tüpü ve 27 tonluk bir düzenek. Onu programlamak, anahtarları ayarlamak ve birimleri arasına kablolar takmak demekti; bu iş günler sürebiliyordu. Programlamayı Kay McNulty, Betty Jennings, Betty Snyder, Marlyn Wescoff, Fran Bilas ve Ruth Lichterman üstlendi. Bir arızanın hangi tüpten kaynaklandığını bulabilecek kadar makineye hâkimdiler, yine de “yardımcı personel” sayıldılar. Öğrenci Kathy Kleiman 1980'lerde onların fotoğraflarına rastladığında, kendisine bunların büyük olasılıkla makinenin yanında poz veren mankenler olduğu söylendi. Kleiman 1990'larda kadınların çoğunun ENIAC'ın 50. yıl kutlamasına bile çağrılmadığını öğrendi; bunun üzerine onları tek tek bulup anılarını kayda geçirdi. 1997'de altısı da Women in Technology International'ın Onur Listesi'ne alındı.

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