<a href="http://www.witi.com/center/witimuseum/halloffame/1997/eniac.php">http://www.witi.com/center/witimuseum/halloffame/1997/eniac.php</a><br><br><div class="pagetitle">WITI HALL OF FAME</div>
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<img src="http://www.witi.com/center/witimuseum/halloffame/img/1997/kantonelli.gif" alt="Kathleen McNulty Mauchly Antonelli" align="left" border="1" height="193" hspace="1" width="119">
<img src="http://www.witi.com/center/witimuseum/halloffame/img/1997/jbartik.gif" alt="Jean Jennings Bartik" align="left" border="1" height="193" hspace="1" width="119">
<img src="http://www.witi.com/center/witimuseum/halloffame/img/1997/bholberton.gif" alt="Frances Snyder Holberton" align="left" border="1" height="193" hspace="1" width="120">
<img src="http://www.witi.com/center/witimuseum/halloffame/img/1997/mmeltzer.gif" alt="Marlyn Wescoff Meltzer" align="left" border="1" height="193" hspace="1" width="120">
<img src="http://www.witi.com/center/witimuseum/halloffame/img/1997/fspence.gif" alt="Frances Bilas Spence" align="left" border="1" height="193" hspace="1" width="120">
<img src="http://www.witi.com/center/witimuseum/halloffame/img/1997/rteitelbaum.gif" alt="Ruth Lichterman Teitelbaum" align="left" border="1" height="193" hspace="1" width="120">
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</p><div class="sectiontitle">The ENIAC Programmers<br><br></div>
Kathleen McNulty Mauchly Antonelli, Jean Jennings Bartik, Frances
Snyder Holberton, Marlyn Wescoff Meltzer, Frances Bilas Spence and Ruth
Lichterman Teitelbaum<br>
(profiles at the time of induction in 1997)
<p>
The first programmers started out as "Computers." This was the name
given by the Army to a group of over 80 women working at the University
of Pennsylvania during World War II calculating ballistics trajectories -
complex differential equations - by hand. When the Army agreed to fund
an experimental project, the first all-electronic digital computer, six
"Computers" were selected in 1945 to be its first programmers. They were
Kathleen McNulty Mauchly Antonelli, Jean Jennings Bartik, Frances
Snyder Holberton, Marlyn Wescoff Meltzer, Frances Bilas Spence and Ruth
Lichterman Teitelbaum.
</p><p>
The ENIAC was the first all-electronic digital computer, a machine of
approximately 18,000 vacuum tubes and forty black 8-foot panels. Because
the ENIAC project was classified, the programmers were denied access to
the machine they were supposed to tame into usefulness until they
received their security clearances. As the first programmers, they had
no programming manuals or courses, only the logical diagrams to help
them figure out how to make the ENIAC work.
</p><p>
They had none of the programming tools of today. Instead, the
programmers had to physically program the ballistics program by using
the 3000 switches and dozens of cables and digit trays to physically
route the data and program pulses through the machine. Therefore, the
description for the first programming job might have read: "Requires
physical effort, mental creativity, innovative spirit, and a high degree
of patience."
</p><p>
On February 15, 1946, the ENIAC Computer was unveiled to the public and
press. It ran the ballistics trajectory programmed by the six
programmers and captured the world's imagination.
</p><p>
In 1947, the ENIAC was turned into a "stored program" computer, the
world's first. Thus, these six programmers were the only generation of
programmers to program it at the machine level.
</p><p>
All six women contributed to the programming the ENIAC. Many of these
pioneer programmers went on to develop innovative tools for future
software engineers and to teach others early programming techniques.
</p><p>
Marlyn Meltzer and Ruth Teitelbaum were a special team of ENIAC
programmers. As "Computers" for the Army, they calculated ballistics
trajectory equations painstakingly using desktop calculators, an analog
technology of the time. Chosen to be ENIAC programmers, they taught
themselves and others certain functions of the ENIAC and helped prepare
the ballistics program. After the war, Ruth relocated with the ENIAC to
Aberdeen, Maryland, where she taught the next generation of ENIAC
programmers how to use the unique new computing tool.
</p><p>
Frances Spence and Kathleen Antonelli were a second ENIAC team. Both
mathematics majors in the class of 1942 of Chestnut Hill College in
Philadelphia, they responded to the Army's call for mathematicians and
were assigned to operate the Differential Analyzer, a huge analog
machine of which there were only a few in the world. Fran and Kay led
the teams of women who used this machine to calculate the ballistics
equations. After the war, both Fran and Kay continued with the ENIAC to
program equations for some of the world's foremost mathematicians. Kay
married Dr. John Mauchly who, together with J. Presper Eckert, invented
the ENIAC and UNIVAC computers, and Kay worked with John on program
designs and techniques for many years.
</p><p>
The third ENIAC programming team was comprised of Jean Bartik and Betty
Holberton. As ENIAC programmers, they took on the challenging task of
learning the Master Programmer that directed the performance of all
program sequences of the ENIAC. They led the entire group in programming
the ballistics trajectory for the February 14, 1946 demonstration, but
that was only the beginning.
</p><p>
After the War, Jean Bartik worked on the team that converted the ENIAC
into a stored program machine, making it easier and faster to program
larger and more sophisticated problems. Jean then programmed the BINAC,
designed logic for UNIVAC I, designed an electrostatic memory backup
system for UNIVAC I, and later, developed reports to help businesses
understand a powerful new class of computers, the microcomputer. She
worked tirelessly to make computers easier to use.
</p><p>
After programming the ENIAC, Betty Holberton joined the company founded
by Eckert and Mauchly and worked on the first commercial computers. She
wrote the C-10 instruction code for UNIVAC I, forever making
programming easier and faster for programmers. She designed the control
console for UNIVAC I and its computer keyboards and numeric keypad. In
1952, she designed the first sort merge generator for UNIVAC I. She
served on the COBOL committee to design the first business language to
operate across computer platforms, wrote standards for FORTRAN and
served on national and international computer standards committees for
decades.
</p><br>