Was a Human Who Computed, Initially Entirely by Hand, with Mechanical Calculators, and Devices for Collating Data Stored on Punched Cards, More Common from the 1920S

Oxford’s female computing pioneers: Computing before the computer

For centuries, until the 1950s, a “computer” was a human who computed, initially entirely by hand, with mechanical calculators, and devices for collating data stored on punched cards, more common from the 1920s. Records are sparse, but there are many examples where the work was done by women, often uncredited and unpaid.

Florence Weldon (1858–1936), Mary Blagg FRAS (1858–1944) studied mathematics at Girton was a self-taught mathematician College Cambridge, and worked living in Cheshire, who became closely with her husband, Raphael interested in astronomy in her Weldon, Oxford’s Linacre Chair 40s, and worked, unpaid, with of Zoology, applying techniques Oxford’s Savilian Professor of developed by the statisticians Astronomy, Herbert Hall Turner, Francis Galton and Karl to analyse data on variable stars, Pearson to biological data. and to catalogue features on the moon’s surface. She noted the For example, in 1892, 23 “very considerable labour” measurements were taken from required in the reconciliation each of 1000 adult female shore of substantial conflicting data crabs from the Bay of Naples, sources. Likewise with no formal and analysed to show that 22 of qualifications,Ethel Bellamy the 23 features were normally FRAS (1881–1960) was employed distributed, and one was bimodal. at the Radcliffe Observatory for In his lifetime Weldon’s papers over 50 years, working on star did not mention his wife: catalogues. From 1913–1946 manuscripts completed by she edited the International Crystallographers and pre-digital computing devices, CalTech, 1947 Pearson after his death Seismological Summary, acknowledge “F. J. W.”. Florence organising records from 600 Oxford’s first colleges for women 1938: in 1929 she was the first Weldon gave a significant earthquake observation stations opened in 1870: Oxford awarded woman to receive an Oxford DSc. collection of French paintings around the world, and using this degrees to women from 1920, Her study of the mathematical to Oxford’s Ashmolean Museum, data to compute the epicentres and Cambridge from 1947. structure of sponges led her to where a gallery is named for her. of earthquakes. Dorothy Wrinch (1894 –1976) compute and publish tables of the studied mathematics at Girton values of certain Bessel functions, College, Cambridge, the only and she was the only female LUNAR NOMENCLATURE COMMITTEE OF THE woman in her year to reach the member of the British Association INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF ACADEMIES // level of a First Class Degree. The Mathematical Tables Committee, COLLATED LIST first woman to teach mathematics which coordinated such work. to men in Cambridge, she worked Her later biological work proved LUNAR FORMATIONS with Bertrand Russell on logic, controversial. NAMED OR LETTERED later working on mathematical IN THE MAPS OF NEISON, SCHMIDT, AND MADLER biology. Moving to Oxford in Ann Mitchell (1922–) was one of 1922, the only roles open to her only 5 women admitted to study COMPILED AND ANNOTATED FOR THE COMMITTEE BY were temporary teaching posts, mathematics in Oxford in 1940: MARY A. BLAGG © Ashmolean of Oxford Museum, University

* UNDER THE DIRECTION OF THE LATE and she moved to the USA in on graduation she joined Bletchley S. A. SAUNDER Park, among 6000 women and Florence Weldon, by Richard Lunar formations, Mary Blagg, 1913 2000 men involved in every Murry, 1928 aspect of organising, decrypting and analysing German messages.

PRINTED FOR THE COMMITTEE Mitchell’s work included scanning BY MESSRS NEILL & CO., LTD., EDINBURGH the possible decryptions suggested 1913 by the Bombe machines, to eliminate quickly those which did not correspond to the German language. She later worked as a social policy © Sophia Smith Collection, Smith College researcher in Edinburgh. Table of epicentres, Ethel Bellamy, 1939 Dorothy Wrinch, about 1941 © Ursula Martin, 2020

Supported by Oxford’s female computing pioneers: The early days of Oxford computing

Right from the start of modern computing in Oxford, women were involved in every aspect of research, teaching, and providing computing support across the university.

In 1966 Christopher Strachey (1916–1975) joined Oxford, founding the Programming Research Group: an early research assistant, in 1969, was Julia Dain, who had learned to program in a gap-year job at Marconi, before her Oxford maths degree, and worked on Strachey’s pioneering compiler for BCPL, a forerunner of C. Oxford’s MSc in Computation started in 1979, then, as now, attracting students

Bodleian Libraries, The University of Oxford The University Bodleian Libraries, Council Facilities and Technology © Science from all over the world: Leonor Barocca recalls how, politics Pen-plotter diagram of insulin structure, programmed by Susan Hockey defining fonts on having disrupted her education Eleanor Dodson around 1971 the PDP15 at Atlas Computer in Portugal, her 1984 MSc shaped Centre, about 1970 the rest of her life.

Around 1970, while in charge In 1970 Walsh, with Brian Ford, of computing for Hodgkin, Linda Hayes and Shirley Lill Eleanor Dodson FRS, later a (now Carter), developed a Professor at York, adapted early pioneering library of machine plotter software to produce one independent software, the of the first machine drawings cornerstone of the present

of the structure of insulin. Numerical Algorithms Group © John Hughes Ltd. Walsh was later a Professor Dorothy Hodgkin and In 1957 Leslie Fox (1918–1992) at the University of Manchester, Mary Sheeran, 2019 family, 1947 was appointed Oxford’s first Lill founded two database Professor of Computer Science, companies which became key An Oxford MSc student, coming and Director of the Computing to many e-commerce sites, top in her exams at a major North Dorothy Hodgkin (1910–1914), Laboratory. The Lab installed and Hayes stayed in Oxford, African University, ruefully saw a fellow of Somerville College Oxford’s first large computer, holding senior roles in Oxford a coveted scholarship to study in and later Wolfson Research a Ferranti Mercury, in 1959, University Computing Services, Europe offered to the male runner- Professor, received the Nobel and became a leading centre for now IT Services. up, before funding was swiftly Prize in Chemistry in 1964 for research in scientific computation, found for them both. Early students her work on the structure of as well as offering computing OUCS brought computing did pioneering work: in 1984 MSc penicillin. Initially making use facilities across the University. resources and training to the student Hanan Mohamed wrote an of facilities elsewhere, Hodgkin In 1960 Joan Walsh (1932–2017), rest of the university, and expert system for intricate Sudanese chaired the committee to advise Fox’s first DPhil student, was Oxford was a pioneer in what inheritance law. Mary Sheeran, on Oxford’s first computer awarded Oxford’s first DPhil in is now called digital humanities: now a Professor in Sweden, was purchase, insisting in 1952 that Computer Science for her thesis Susan Hockey, later a professor the first woman awarded the the pioneering Cambridge and “Numerical solution of partial at University College London, MSc, in 1981: in 1984 her DPhil Manchester machines did not differential equations using whose first degree was in Egyptian developed new programming have enough memory for her. a high speed computer”. with Akkadian, developed some languages for computer hardware, of the first screen-based fonts, and she became Oxford’s first and co-authored the pioneering female Tutorial Fellow and Oxford Concordance Program. University Lecturer in Computation.

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