Proving Ground: The Untold Story of the Six Women Who Programmed the World’s First Modern Computer - Hardcover

Kleiman, Kathy

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 178738862X ISBN 13: 9781787388628

Publisher: C Hurst & Co Publishers Ltd, 2022

Synopsis

A fascinating, forgotten story of the six brilliant women who launched modern computing.

As the Cold War began, America’s race for tech supremacy was taking off. Experts rushed to complete the top-secret computing research started during World War II, among them six gifted mathematicians: a patriotic Quaker, a Jewish bookworm, a Yugoslav genius, a native Gaelic speaker, a sophomore from the Bronx, and a farmer’s daughter from Missouri. Their mission? Programming the world’s first and only supercomputer―before any code or programming languages existed.

These pioneers triumphed against sexist attitudes and huge technical challenges to invent computer programming, yet their monumental contribution has never been recognised―until now. Over a decade, Kathy Kleiman met with four of the original six ENIAC Programmers and recorded their stories. Here, with a light touch and a serious mind, she exposes the deliberate erasure of their achievements and restores the women to their rightful place as revolutionaries, bringing to life their camaraderie, their determination, and their rapidly changing world.

As big tech struggles with gender inequality and momentum builds in restoring women to history, the time has come for this engrossing story to be uncovered and celebrated.

About this title

About the Author

Kathy Kleiman is a leader in Internet law and policy and currently teaches at American University Washington College of Law. Her passion for finding the truth behind these female programmers led to her founding the ENIAC Programmers Project, which completed a documentary on the subject of this book titled 'The Computers: The Remarkable Story of the ENIAC Programmers.' The film premiered at the Seattle International Film Festival in 2014 and won the UNAFF Grand Jury Award For Best Short Documentary at the United Nations Association Film Festival in 2016. 

Edition details

• Publisher: C Hurst & Co Publishers Ltd
• Publication date: 2022
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 178738862X
• ISBN 13: 9781787388628
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 320