skyler@violet.berkeley.edu (08/05/88)
Two responses on the Eniac issue: In article <12873@agate.BERKELEY.EDU> you write: >Ref: "...the ENIAC was basically operated by Navy women..." > "...That is where Grace Hopper and Betty Holberton got their starts..." > As I write this from the area where the ENIAC stood (from 1947-1955), >I must advise, to the best of my knowledge, that NAVY people (men or women), >had nothing to do with the ARMY Ballistic Research Laboratory's ENIAC. > Sincerely, > Mike Danish Yes, Yes, my fault, as I already said to the earlier commenter. I was confusing Aiken's team with the BRL/Moore School/ENIAC people. I am reminded by a comment (in another context) that it is easier to win a war than to quell interservice rivalry. I would love to see the article you offered. But I hope that my stupidity won't detract from the main point -- the high representation of women in the ranks of the earliest modern (40s) computer workers. Granting that the representation of civilian and service women in WW II computer projects was a consequence of the manpower situation of the time, it is interesting to reflect on how the high proportion of women has persisted. One of my archair theories is that this is a case where a *new* skill was being developed that the absent males had not been displaced from for the duration. So there was no restoration of position following the war because there were no returning veterans who had formerly occupied those positions or the occupation as such -- there were no former occupants. One can cynically credit the fact that women had already established themselves as qualified computerists, along with the explosive growth of the field, as the basis for creation of a valuable career niche in which women are quite welcome. The changes in public policy and the positive behavior of certain employers (especially IBM, but including the other computer manufacturers and organizations like System Development Corporation doing mammoth government computer projects) have all contributed, but the seeds of the situation may be seen in the mobilization for the war effort. Well, it's just a theory ... -- Dennis E. Hamilton {uucp: ... !rochester!cci632!sjfc!deh0654} Robert Anson Heinlein, 1907-1988 May the First Muster always answer to your names. ==================================================================== In article <12873@agate.BERKELEY.EDU> Mike Danish writes: = As I write this from the area where the ENIAC stood (from 1947-1955), =I must advise, to the best of my knowledge, that NAVY people (men or women), =had nothing to do with the ARMY Ballistic Research Laboratory's ENIAC. =It was an ARMY system.... = Adm. Hopper was =never, to the best of my knowledge, involved with the ENIAC as that computer =preceded the computer with which she was associated. Admiral Hopper worked initially with the Harvard Mark I, an electromechanical machine which was, as I recall, comtemporary with the ENIAC and representative of a somewhat different approach. richard w -- Richard Welty 518-387-6346 GE R&D, K1-5C39, Niskayuna, New York welty@ge-crd.ARPA {uunet,philabs,rochester}!steinmetz!welty ``Look ma, no brakes''