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Proving ground : the untold story of the six women who programmed the world's first modern computer / Kathy Kleiman.

By: Material type: TextTextPublisher: New York : Grand Central Publishing/Hachette Book Group, 2022Copyright date: ©2022Edition: First editionDescription: xix, 296 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (some color) ; 24 cmContent type:
  • text
Media type:
  • unmediated
Carrier type:
  • volume
ISBN:
  • 9781538718285
  • 1538718286
Other title:
  • Proving ground : the untold story of the 6 women who programmed the world's 1st modern computer
Subject(s): Genre/Form:
Contents:
The double doors open -- Looking for women math majors -- We were strangers there -- Nestled in a corner of the base -- Give other people as much credit as you give yourself -- We found things in a not very good state -- Adding machines and radar -- 3436 Walnut Street -- The monster in the basement -- The lost memo -- "Give Goldstine the money" -- Dark days of the war -- "All that machinery just to do one little thing like that" -- The kissing bridge -- Are you scared of electricity? -- Learning it her way -- Surrounded by vultures -- The dean's antechamber -- A new project -- Divide and conquer -- A sequencing of the problem -- A tremendously big thing -- Programs and pedaling sheets -- Bench tests and best friends -- Parallel programming -- Sines and cosines -- The ENIAC room is theirs! -- The last bugs before demonstration day -- Demonstration day, February 15, 1946 -- A strange afterparty -- Hundred-year problems and programmers needed -- The Moore school lectures -- Their own adventures -- ENIAC 5 in and around Aberdeen -- A new life -- Epilogue.
Summary: "After the end of World War II, top-secret research continued across the United States as engineers and programmers rushed to complete their confidential assignments. Among them were six pioneering women, tasked with figuring out how to program the world's first general-purpose, programmable, all-electronic computer - a machine built to calculate a single ballistic trajectory in twenty seconds rather than forty hours by human hand - even though there were no instruction codes or programming languages in existence. But their story, never told to the reporters and scientists who thronged the huge computer after it became public, was lost. Kathy Kleiman, through meticulous research and vivid prose, brings these women back to life, and back into the historical record. For more than two decades, she met with four of the original six ENIAC Programmers, poured over documentation and images, and recorded extensive oral histories with the women about their work. She found stories that had been relegated and dismissed by even computer history experts, who had assumed the women in the old black-and-white pictures with ENIAC were nothing more than models. PROVING GROUND is a character-driven narrative that restores these women to their rightful place as technological revolutionaries. As the tech world continues to struggle with gender imbalance and its far-reaching consequences, the story of the ENIAC Programmers' groundbreaking work is more urgently necessary than ever before, and PROVING GROUND is the celebration they deserve"-- Provided by publisher.
Holdings
Item type Home library Collection Call number Materials specified Status Date due Barcode Item holds
Adult Book Adult Book Main Library NonFiction 004.0922 K63 Available 33111010867568
Total holds: 0

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Discover a fascinating look into the lives of six historic trailblazers in this World War II-era story of the American women who programmed the world's first modern computer.



After the end of World War II, the race for technological supremacy sped on. Top-secret research into ballistics and computing, begun during the war to aid those on the front lines, continued across the United States as engineers and programmers rushed to complete their confidential assignments. Among them were six pioneering women, tasked with figuring out how to program the world's first general-purpose, programmable, all-electronic computer--better known as the ENIAC--even though there were no instruction codes or programming languages in existence. While most students of computer history are aware of this innovative machine, the great contributions of the women who programmed it were never told--until now.



Over the course of a decade, Kathy Kleiman met with four of the original six ENIAC Programmers and recorded extensive interviews with the women about their work. Proving Ground restores these women to their rightful place as technological revolutionaries. As the tech world continues to struggle with gender imbalance and its far-reaching consequences, the story of the ENIAC Programmers' groundbreaking work is more urgently necessary than ever before, and Proving Ground is the celebration they deserve.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 273-280) and index.

The double doors open -- Looking for women math majors -- We were strangers there -- Nestled in a corner of the base -- Give other people as much credit as you give yourself -- We found things in a not very good state -- Adding machines and radar -- 3436 Walnut Street -- The monster in the basement -- The lost memo -- "Give Goldstine the money" -- Dark days of the war -- "All that machinery just to do one little thing like that" -- The kissing bridge -- Are you scared of electricity? -- Learning it her way -- Surrounded by vultures -- The dean's antechamber -- A new project -- Divide and conquer -- A sequencing of the problem -- A tremendously big thing -- Programs and pedaling sheets -- Bench tests and best friends -- Parallel programming -- Sines and cosines -- The ENIAC room is theirs! -- The last bugs before demonstration day -- Demonstration day, February 15, 1946 -- A strange afterparty -- Hundred-year problems and programmers needed -- The Moore school lectures -- Their own adventures -- ENIAC 5 in and around Aberdeen -- A new life -- Epilogue.

"After the end of World War II, top-secret research continued across the United States as engineers and programmers rushed to complete their confidential assignments. Among them were six pioneering women, tasked with figuring out how to program the world's first general-purpose, programmable, all-electronic computer - a machine built to calculate a single ballistic trajectory in twenty seconds rather than forty hours by human hand - even though there were no instruction codes or programming languages in existence. But their story, never told to the reporters and scientists who thronged the huge computer after it became public, was lost. Kathy Kleiman, through meticulous research and vivid prose, brings these women back to life, and back into the historical record. For more than two decades, she met with four of the original six ENIAC Programmers, poured over documentation and images, and recorded extensive oral histories with the women about their work. She found stories that had been relegated and dismissed by even computer history experts, who had assumed the women in the old black-and-white pictures with ENIAC were nothing more than models. PROVING GROUND is a character-driven narrative that restores these women to their rightful place as technological revolutionaries. As the tech world continues to struggle with gender imbalance and its far-reaching consequences, the story of the ENIAC Programmers' groundbreaking work is more urgently necessary than ever before, and PROVING GROUND is the celebration they deserve"-- Provided by publisher.

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