Cultural Research January 25th, 2016
Betty Holberton
General Description of Era
Betty Holberton was born in 1917 in Philadelphia. During this time, technology was not used by the masses. The most advanced technology was used mostly for the United States government. It wasn’t until later in life, that most of our technology became public use.
Devices Used by Women
For Betty, the most exciting time to be working was during the 1940’s when she was a member of the ENIAC team. ENIAC stands for Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer. During the 40’s it was a huge privilege to be able to be apart of the ENIAC team. At that time in our history, we did not have many tools or technology for the masses. Women usually were not in factories, so their only technology they used was the telephone, radio, and cars.
Stats Related to Genders in Technology
Interestingly enough, the statistic for women in the technological work force has gone down. According to the Huffington Post, rom the 1990’s the number of female computer scientists has gone from 35%, to a shocking 26% in just 23 years. But, as the number of computer scientists went down over the years, the number of engineers has actually increased by a little amount. The number of engineers went from 9% in the 1990’s to 12% by 2013.
Influence on Others
Betty Holberton might have not directly changed the course and/or numbers of women joining the technological field, but she did had a large enough impact on the science community to win the Ada Lovelace Award. The Ada Lovelace Award is given to an individual who makes a large impact on the scientific community. Since Betty was one of the original six women to work on ENIAC, it was only fitting she were to win the award in 1997.
Who, What, When, Where, Why.
The person I have chosen is Betty Holberton. She is one of the six original women to work on the ENIAC computers. In her lifetime she helped with success of the computer switch board, she also developed the numerical keyboard still used on computers today. Betty was alive from 1917 to 2001. In that amount of time she changed technology in pretty large ways. She was able to change technology by living in Philadelphia. By putting herself in Philadelphia, she was able to have direct and easy access to the ENIAC’s home base and to the “revolutionary” switch board computer. I chose to do her because I felt it was an amazing accomplishment to be one of six women to make such a difference in tool that our generation now uses every day!
Technology Details
During Betty’s time in the computer science field she helped create great inventions for our society. Like I have said, she helped with the maintenance of the computer, went on to help the navy with codes, and finally created the C-10 instruction set, which in now considered the first step in programming all modern language. By helping the Navy code this in 1966, it completely changed the way we deal with our computers.
Define Terms
ENIAC: Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer
C-10 instructional set: Set of computer codes that create the ability to use foreign language on a computer
