We invite you to learn about female pioneers who paved the way for Information Technology, and about female technologists who work in Latin America and continue to develop technology.

Ada Lovelace
(London, 1815-1852)
United Kingdom

Miss Augusta Ada Byron King, Countess of Lovelace, was considered the “first programmer”. Born from the marriage of poet Lord Byron to Anna Isabella Milbanke, her only relationship with her father was by correspondence, since her parents separated two months after her birth. Her mother decided to drive her away from poetry and literature, so she thus grew up in a world of mathematics and science as from childhood. Today she is recognized as the first person to have ever described a general programming language when she interpreted the use of Charles Babbage’s first analytical engine. In her works, she appears as a mere transcriber, not because of her own personal decision but because in the eyes of Victorian people, it was unusual and inappropriate for women to address these topics.

“This machine can do just about anything we order it to execute…”

The above quote by Ada describes the endless possibilities of IT programming.

During Ada’s lifetime, her contributions were not fully appreciated. Importance was attached to her inputs only years after she died. In the 20th century her ideas were harnessed to push forward IT. Although many women have helped significantly in this field, Ada Lovelace is the only one who has a programming language that bears her name: in 1979, the US Department of Defense created the Ada programming language.

The women of ENIAC
United States of America

Also known as the “Top Secret Rosies”, it is a group of six women who were an essential part of ENIAC’s programming –that is, the first general-purpose computer, designed for the United States Army, at the Moore School of Engineering in 1946. Since men were serving in the Army, those responsible for the project - Eckert and Mauchly – recruited these six female mathematicians to do the job. Because of gender and budget issues, they were not included in the professional category. Although they appeared in all pictures next to ENIAC, people thought they were models to “glamorize” the computer, just like the “refrigerator women” appearing in fridge advertisements. In 1946, the US Naval Academy publicized the existence of ENIAC, showing its huge calculation powers and the software programmed by these women that worked perfectly well. Their names, however, were not mentioned.

The work carried out at the time by this group of women was later recognized, and they are now all a part of the Women in Technology International Hall of Fame:

Grace Murray Hopper
(1906-1992)
United States of America

She graduated with a degree in mathematics and physics from Yale University. She served in the US navy in the period 1966-1981, in which she headed the Navy automation process. She also worked at the universities of Harvard and Yale, and for private companies. Furthermore, she was a pioneer in creating COBOL, a business-oriented programming language, and also developed the Editing Generator language. Moreover, she worked with the Harvard Mark I, BINAC and UNIVAC computers, and standardized a high-level language for her country’s Army.

Hedy Lamarr (1914-2000)
Austria-United States of America

At one time she was known as “the most beautiful woman in the world” (doing away with the stereotype that a woman cannot be pretty and intelligent at the same time). She was born in Austria, where she started her engineering studies but then abandoned them so as to act in movies, particularly in Hollywood. Her contributions to science went unnoticed since they were patented under her real name: Hedwig Eva Maria Kiesler. She developed an early version of a broader spectrum communication system, a precursor of the Bluetooth and WiFi wireless technologies.

Jude Milhon
(1939-2003)
United States of America

She was known by her pen-name, St. Jude, and worked in the field of programming, web design and Internet consulting services. Her main contribution was the creation of the term “cyberpunk” and the namesake group, which brought together advocates of digital privacy; furthermore, she encouraged other women to participate in digital developments.

Evelyn Berezin (1925)
United States of America

She graduated with a degree in physics from New York University and created the first office computer in 1953. In 1968 she developed the first computer-driven word processor, and later set up her own IT company from where she upgraded the system, targeting it to office work. Furthermore, she programmed the first real-time airline reservation system.

Lynn Conway (1938)
United States of America

Her career started at IBM where she carried out research which led to creating the first “super-scale” computer. Nonetheless, such advancements were never recognized because she started her career years before deciding to have sex change surgery and being dismissed from the company due to her transsexuality. After surgery and the re-launch of her career, she was a pioneer in developing micro-electronic chips.

Frances E. Allen (1932)
United States of America

She is a mathematician graduated from the University of Michigan. A pioneer in parallel task automation, she set the theoretical and practical foundations of automatic optimization techniques in compilers. She defined techniques which are still being applied to help increase computer efficiency. She became the first IBM Fellow in 1989, after having worked for the company for 32 years.

Jean E. Sammet (1928)
United States of America

She holds a degree in mathematics from Mount Holyoke College. She developed the FORMAC programming language (the first for symbolic manipulation). She was amongst the key members of the group that developed COBOL (a business-oriented language), and supervised the first scientific programming group at Sperry Gyroscope. She also set up the Special Interest Committee on Symbolic and Algebraic Manipulation (SICSAM) in 1965, and chaired the Interest Group on Programming Languages.

Karen Sparck Jones
(1935-2007)
Great Britain

She was an expert in computer linguistics and a pioneer in automated indexing research. She created ITF, an indicator capable of identifying how important a word is for a document. It is a precursor of IDF, which provides results in order of importance when answering a query. This design was the basis for the information retrieval probabilistic model.

Carol Shaw (1955)
United States of America

She graduated with a degree in Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences. She was the first woman to design video games. Her career took place at Atari, Activision and Tandem where she developed games such as 3D Tic –Tac - Toe; Video Checkers and River Raid (the latter was controversial since it was considered violent).

Radia Perlman (1951)
United States of America

She holds a PhD in Computer Sciences from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Known as the “mother of the Internet”, she created the Spanning Tree Protocol (STP). This protocol allows interconnection devices to automatically enable or disenable links. Thanks to this Protocol, the Internet developed to what we know nowadays. She has been considered one of the 20 most influential persons in IT and is currently still carrying out research on IT safety.

Rózsa Péter (1905-1977)
Hungary

She graduated with a degree in mathematics from Eötvös Loránd University and was one of the founders of the computability or recursion theory, and the first to apply it to Theoretical Computer Science.

Mitchell Baker (1957)
United States of America

She created and conducted the Technology Group within the Netscape Communications Corporation’s legal department. She created the Mozilla Public License, under which the browser’s source code was released as open source software.

In Latin America

The following are women who are based in Latin America and are making history in the field of technological developments:

Irene Loiseau (1949)
Argentina

She holds a degree in Mathematical Sciences from Buenos Aires University (UBA) and is a teacher at the School of Exact Sciences, and director of the Operations Research and Optimization Group, as well as of the Computer Science Department, School of Exact and Natural Sciences (UBA). She has made great contributions to combined optimization which seeks to solve several problems of human life using equations and algorithms.

Patricia Borensztejn (1953)
Argentina

She is an IT Engineer and a Teacher at the Computer Department, School of Exact and Natural Sciences (UBA). Her field of research is the design of FPGA-based Technology Systems and their different applications, such as robotics. She published a book titled: “Sobre mujeres, hombres y máquinas. Relatos informáticos pero no tanto” (On women, men and computers: A sort of IT narration), with a view to disseminating information on different computers and their creators’ backgrounds.

Nancy Hitschfeld Kahler
Chile

She holds a PhD in Applied Sciences, and is a teacher at the School of Physics and Mathematics, University of Chile. She has made important contributions to computer graphics, the technology of geometry mappings and Computer-Aided Geometric Design.

Clara Zomer Rezler (1940)
Costa Rica

She was the first woman to graduate from the career of Civil Engineering at Costa Rica University (UCR), and has been recognized for her outstanding work as a researcher, developer and politician. She paved the way for computing in Costa Rica when CCE, under her leadership, purchased the first electronic computer, known in the country as «Matilde». At the initiative of CCE’s founder, «Matilde» was not only made available to the university itself but to the country as a whole. Clara Zomer taught the first computing courses at UCR. In the period 1992-1994, she was Dean of the School of Engineering and consolidated fiber optic at the School. Moreover, she was a Congresswoman and Minister of Housing. She received the award as an “Outstanding Professional” in 1999. It was the first time that this award –created in the previous decade- was given to a woman.

Silvia Chavarría González
Costa Rica

She is a mathematician who graduated from the Costa Rica University (UCR), and was the first teacher of Computer Science at that university, and a mentor of many women. She started her teaching career at the School of Computing and IT Sciences (ECCI in its Spanish acronym). Years later she became the first woman to head the School. She was also Director of the Post-graduate Programme in Computing and IT at UCR. Furthermore, she taught courses on operational research, and on the social and ethical impact of computing. Her interest in gender issues and science and technology led her to earn a Master’s in Curricula and Teaching, with a major in Mathematics Learning and Teaching by women, at the University of Wisconsin in Madison.

Marta Calderón Chacón
Costa Rica

She was the first woman to obtain an undergraduate degree in Computer Science at the Costa Rica University (UCR). Her main achievement was to become Systems Development Director at the National Insurance Institute (an agency managing all insurance-related matters across the country). She developed over-arching automation processes. Moreover, she was director of the Information Technology career at the Universidad Autónoma de Centro America, and is currently Coordinator of the Office of the Executive Auditor, Inter-American Development Bank.

Victoria Raquel Bajar
Argentina

She was among the first group of students to graduate from the career of Scientific Computing in Argentina. She was also a renowned computing researcher in Mexico, where she set up important Schools of Higher Education in Computing and IT, and drafted curricula for several careers.

Ida Holz Bard (1935)
Uruguay

She was a part of the first generations of computer career students at the School of Engineering, Universidad de la República. She led the development of the Internet in Uruguay since the beginning of the 1990s. At present she still plays a key role in the development and evolution of ICTs (Information and Communication Technologies) in her country. She was the first Latin American woman to join the Internet Society’s Hall of Fame, an initiative that recognizes those who contributed to the development and strengthening of the Internet.

Rebeca Guber
Argentina

She holds a PhD in Mathematics from La Plata University. She was Under-secretary for Operational Coordination (Argentine Secretariat of Science and Technology), head of advisors at the Secretariat of University Policies -Secretariat of Science and Technology-, and of the National Institute of Statistics and Censuses (INDEC), and secretary of the Calculus Institute. At all these institutions she stood out for promoting research in Science and Technology.