From left to right, these women are Ada Lovelace, Grace Hopper, and Hedy LaMarr, all three who are remarkable for major accomplishments in computer technology.
A gifted mathematician, Ada Lovelace (December 10, 1815 – November 27, 1852) is considered the first computer programmer. She wrote instructions for the first computer program. She also wrote down her thoughts on how codes could be created to handle letters and symbols along with numbers. Ada was also a compulsive gambler and the daughter of the famous poet, Lord Byron.
Grace Hopper (December 9, 1906 – January 1, 1992) was an American computer scientist and U.S. Navy Rear Admiral who invented the first compiler for a computer programming language. (A compiler is a program that transforms a set of coded instructions into a machine-readable language.) Hopper also developed COBOL which was one of the first computer programs. On the lighter side, she is well-remembered for her humorous demonstration of the length of a nanosecond.
Considered one of Hollywood’s beautiful movie actresses, Hedy LaMarr (November 9, 1914 – January 18, 2000) was also an inventor who, because of her accomplishments, was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame. At the beginning of World War II, she developed a radio guidance system for Allied torpedoes which used technology to defeat jamming of wireless communications by the enemy, Elements of the design are among the most important now incorporated into Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and CDMA technology.
