Betty Holberton
Encyclopedia
Frances Elizabeth "Betty" Holberton (March 7, 1917 – December 8, 2001) was one of the six original programmers of ENIAC
, the first general-purpose electronic digital computer.
in 1917. On her first day of classes at the University of Pennsylvania
, Holberton's math professor told her that she should stay home raising children instead of wasting her time attempting to achieve a degree in mathematics, and was thus discouraged from pursuing it. Instead, Holberton decided to study journalism, because its curriculum let her travel far a-field. Journalism was also one of the few programs of study open to women during that time.
During World War II
while the men were fighting, the Army needed the women to compute ballistics trajectories. Holberton was hired by the Moore School of Engineering to work as a "computor", and was soon chosen to be one of the six women to program the ENIAC
. Classified as "subprofessionals", Holberton, along with Kay McNulty
, Marlyn Wescoff
, Ruth Lichterman
, Betty Jean Jennings
, and Fran Bilas
, programmed the ENIAC to perform calculations for ballistics trajectories electronically for the Ballistic Research Laboratory
(BRL), US Army. Their work on ENIAC earned each of them a place in the Women in Technology International Hall of Fame. In the beginning, because the ENIAC was classified, the women were only allowed to work with blueprints and wiring diagrams in order to program it. The ENIAC was unveiled on February 15, 1946, at the University of Pennsylvania
.
After World War II, Holberton worked at Remington Rand
and the National Bureau of Standards. She was the Chief of the Programming Research Branch, Applied Mathematics Laboratory at the David Taylor Model Basin
in 1959. She helped to develop the UNIVAC
, wrote the first generative programming system (SORT/MERGE), and also the first statistical analysis package which was used for the 1950 US Census. Holberton worked with John Mauchly
to develop the C-10 instruction for BINAC
which is considered to be the prototype of all modern programming languages. She also participated in the development of early standards for the COBOL
and FORTRAN
programming languages with Grace Hopper
. Later, as an employee of the National Bureau of Standards, she was very active in the first two revisions of the Fortran language standard ("FORTRAN 77" and "Fortran 90").
Also in 1997, she was inducted into the Women in Technology International
Hall of Fame, along with the other original ENIAC programmers.
computers, atypical to others at the time.
ENIAC
ENIAC was the first general-purpose electronic computer. It was a Turing-complete digital computer capable of being reprogrammed to solve a full range of computing problems....
, the first general-purpose electronic digital computer.
Early life and education
Holberton was born Frances Elizabeth Snyder in PhiladelphiaPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Philadelphia County, with which it is coterminous. The city is located in the Northeastern United States along the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. It is the fifth-most-populous city in the United States,...
in 1917. On her first day of classes at the University of Pennsylvania
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania is a private, Ivy League university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States,Penn is the fourth-oldest using the founding dates claimed by each institution...
, Holberton's math professor told her that she should stay home raising children instead of wasting her time attempting to achieve a degree in mathematics, and was thus discouraged from pursuing it. Instead, Holberton decided to study journalism, because its curriculum let her travel far a-field. Journalism was also one of the few programs of study open to women during that time.
Career
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
while the men were fighting, the Army needed the women to compute ballistics trajectories. Holberton was hired by the Moore School of Engineering to work as a "computor", and was soon chosen to be one of the six women to program the ENIAC
ENIAC
ENIAC was the first general-purpose electronic computer. It was a Turing-complete digital computer capable of being reprogrammed to solve a full range of computing problems....
. Classified as "subprofessionals", Holberton, along with Kay McNulty
Kathleen Antonelli
Kathleen "Kay" McNulty Mauchly Antonelli was one of the six original programmers of the ENIAC, the first general-purpose electronic digital computer.-Early life and education:...
, Marlyn Wescoff
Marlyn Meltzer
Marlyn Meltzer was one of the original programmers for the ENIAC computer.She was born Marlyn Wescoff and graduated from Temple University in 1942. She was hired by the Moore School of Engineering later that year to perform weather calculations, mainly because she knew how to operate an adding...
, Ruth Lichterman
Ruth Teitelbaum
Ruth Teitelbaum was one of the original programmers for the ENIAC computer.Teitelbaum graduated from Hunter College with a B.Sc. in Mathematics...
, Betty Jean Jennings
Jean Bartik
Jean Bartik was one of the original programmers for the ENIAC computer.She was born Betty Jean Jennings in Gentry County, Missouri, in 1924 and attended Northwest Missouri State Teachers College, majoring in mathematics. In 1945, she was hired by the University of Pennsylvania to work for Army...
, and Fran Bilas
Frances Spence
Frances Spence was one of the original programmers for the ENIAC computer.She was born Frances Bilas in Philadelphia in 1922. She attended Temple University but then was awarded a scholarship to Chestnut Hill College. She majored in mathematics with a minor in physics and graduated in 1942...
, programmed the ENIAC to perform calculations for ballistics trajectories electronically for the Ballistic Research Laboratory
Ballistic Research Laboratory
The Ballistic Research Laboratory at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland was the center for the United States Army's research efforts in ballistics and vulnerability/lethality analysis....
(BRL), US Army. Their work on ENIAC earned each of them a place in the Women in Technology International Hall of Fame. In the beginning, because the ENIAC was classified, the women were only allowed to work with blueprints and wiring diagrams in order to program it. The ENIAC was unveiled on February 15, 1946, at the University of Pennsylvania
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania is a private, Ivy League university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States,Penn is the fourth-oldest using the founding dates claimed by each institution...
.
After World War II, Holberton worked at Remington Rand
Remington Rand
Remington Rand was an early American business machines manufacturer, best known originally as a typewriter manufacturer and in a later incarnation as the manufacturer of the UNIVAC line of mainframe computers but with antecedents in Remington Arms in the early nineteenth century. For a time, the...
and the National Bureau of Standards. She was the Chief of the Programming Research Branch, Applied Mathematics Laboratory at the David Taylor Model Basin
David Taylor Model Basin
The David Taylor Model Basin is one of the largest ship model basins — test facilities for the development of ship design — in the world...
in 1959. She helped to develop the UNIVAC
UNIVAC
UNIVAC is the name of a business unit and division of the Remington Rand company formed by the 1950 purchase of the Eckert-Mauchly Computer Corporation, founded four years earlier by ENIAC inventors J. Presper Eckert and John Mauchly, and the associated line of computers which continues to this day...
, wrote the first generative programming system (SORT/MERGE), and also the first statistical analysis package which was used for the 1950 US Census. Holberton worked with John Mauchly
John Mauchly
John William Mauchly was an American physicist who, along with J. Presper Eckert, designed ENIAC, the first general purpose electronic digital computer, as well as EDVAC, BINAC and UNIVAC I, the first commercial computer made in the United States.Together they started the first computer company,...
to develop the C-10 instruction for BINAC
BINAC
BINAC, the Binary Automatic Computer, was an early electronic computer designed for Northrop Aircraft Company by the Eckert-Mauchly Computer Corporation in 1949. Eckert and Mauchly, though they had started the design of EDVAC at the University of Pennsylvania, chose to leave and start EMCC, the...
which is considered to be the prototype of all modern programming languages. She also participated in the development of early standards for the COBOL
COBOL
COBOL is one of the oldest programming languages. Its name is an acronym for COmmon Business-Oriented Language, defining its primary domain in business, finance, and administrative systems for companies and governments....
and FORTRAN
Fortran
Fortran is a general-purpose, procedural, imperative programming language that is especially suited to numeric computation and scientific computing...
programming languages with Grace Hopper
Grace Hopper
Rear Admiral Grace Murray Hopper was an American computer scientist and United States Navy officer. A pioneer in the field, she was one of the first programmers of the Harvard Mark I computer, and developed the first compiler for a computer programming language...
. Later, as an employee of the National Bureau of Standards, she was very active in the first two revisions of the Fortran language standard ("FORTRAN 77" and "Fortran 90").
Legacy
In 1997 she was the only woman of the original six who programmed the ENIAC to receive the Augusta Ada Lovelace Award, one of the highest honors possible for a computer programmer.Also in 1997, she was inducted into the Women in Technology International
Women in Technology International
Women in Technology International is a worldwide organization dedicated to the advancement of women in business and technology. It was established in 1989 by Carolyn Leighton as an email-based information network business....
Hall of Fame, along with the other original ENIAC programmers.
Trivia
It is from her suggestion that grey, rather than black, was chosen as the colour for UNIVACUNIVAC
UNIVAC is the name of a business unit and division of the Remington Rand company formed by the 1950 purchase of the Eckert-Mauchly Computer Corporation, founded four years earlier by ENIAC inventors J. Presper Eckert and John Mauchly, and the associated line of computers which continues to this day...
computers, atypical to others at the time.
External links
- Programmed to Succeed: Betty Holberton at the Association for Women in Computing website (archived 2008)
- Computer pioneer Betty Holberton dies at 84, Government Computer News, January 5, 2002
- Two oral history interviews with Frances E. Holberton. Charles Babbage InstituteCharles Babbage InstituteThe Charles Babbage Institute is a research center at the University of Minnesota specializing in the history of information technology, particularly the history since 1935 of digital computing, programming/software, and computer networking....
, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis. UNIVAC Conference (17-18 May 1990) as well as interview by James Baker Ross (14 April 1983). In the latter, Holberton discusses her education from 1940 through the 1960s and her experiences in the computing field. These include work with the Eckert-Mauchly Computer CorporationEckert-Mauchly Computer CorporationThe Eckert–Mauchly Computer Corporation was founded by J. Presper Eckert and John Mauchly, and was incorporated on December 22, 1947. After building the ENIAC at the University of Pennsylvania, Eckert and Mauchly formed EMCC to build new computer designs for commercial and military applications...
, David Taylor Model BasinDavid Taylor Model BasinThe David Taylor Model Basin is one of the largest ship model basins — test facilities for the development of ship design — in the world...
, and the National Bureau of Standards. She discusses her perceptions of cooperation and competition between members of these organizations and the difficulties she encountered as a woman. She recounts her work on the ENIACENIACENIAC was the first general-purpose electronic computer. It was a Turing-complete digital computer capable of being reprogrammed to solve a full range of computing problems....
and LARC computers, her design of operating systems, and her applications programming. - Frances E. Holberton Papers, circa 1950s-1980s. Charles Babbage InstituteCharles Babbage InstituteThe Charles Babbage Institute is a research center at the University of Minnesota specializing in the history of information technology, particularly the history since 1935 of digital computing, programming/software, and computer networking....
, University of Minnesota.