Where would we be now if it hadn’t been for all these IT legends paving the way for the technology we use today!
We’re conscious of these pioneers in IT History, so we’re giving a shout out to some of them, appreciating their discoveries and inventions.
Commodore Grace M Hopper
American computer scientise AND an Admiral! Grace was one of the first programmers of the Harvard Mark 1 computer, and being a computer programming pioneer invented one of the first compiler related tools. She also helped with the development of COBOL, an early high level programming language that is still in use today!
Charles Babbage
The ‘father of computing’. He created a mechanical tablet able to compute one type of mathematical task. He wanted to create something that could compute any kind of calculation, and invented the Analytical Machine, the precursor to our modern computers.
james Gosling
Where did Java come from? James Gosling, the inventor of the Java programming language. Java allows programmers to build software on one computer platform, that consumers can then use on other platforms. Gosling is deemed one of the most important people in technology.
Joan Clarke
Most of us will of heard of Joan Clarke, thanks to the film ‘The Imitation Game’ and her role in the Enigma Project, where they decrypted Nazi Germany’s secret communications. Clarke was an English Cryptanalyst and numismatist and earned many awards and citations including an MBE in 1946.
Alan Turing
Once again, Alan was immortalised in the film ‘The Imitation Game’ and his role in the Enigma Project during the Second World War. He also made a proof showing that not all problems could be solved by automatic computation, that the BBC says is the ‘basis for the modern theory of computation’.
Tim Berners-Lee
Where would we be without the World Wide Web! Shout out to Tim Berners-Lee, credited with inventing the World Wide Web, the spine of the Internet. In 2009, Berners-Lee launched the World Wide Web Foundation, an international non profit organisation advocating a free and open web for everyone.
Betty Holberton, Jean Barik, Kay Antonelli, Marlyn Meltzer, Ruth Teitelbaum & Frances Spence
Do you know who programmed the first general purpose electronic digital computer, ENIAC? You probably don’t, and that’s because the 6 original programmers were never introduced and never gained credit, so today we’re giving them all a shout out! Betty Holberton, Jean Barik, Kay Antonelli, Marlyn Meltzer, Ruth Teitelbaum and Frances Spence! We salute you!
Bill Gates
Harvard drop out? Shout out to Mr Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft! With his visions to use the personal computer in the professional world as well as at home, he created the Windows Operating System and Microsoft Office Suite!
Katherine Johnson
So NASA couldn’t function without the intelligence behind their missions, Johnson calculated trajectories, launch windows, and emergency back up return paths for a number of flights, including the well known flight to the moon, Apollo 11, as well as for plans for a mission to Mars.
Doug Engelbart
Now, we don’t know about you, but where would we be without our trusty computer mouse! Shout out to Doug Engelbart for his role in inventing the mouse! Did you know they tried as many as 5 buttons on the mouse before settling for 3 because that’s all they could fit? Unfortunately though, Engelbart never recieved any royalties from his mouse, it was too ahead of its time and his patent expired in 1987!
Thelma Estrin
How did IT move into healthcare and medical research? Shout out to Thelma Estrin, computer scientist and engineer who was one of the first to apply computer technology in these places!
Nathaniel Borenstein
E-mail Attachments? We’ve all used them, either sent or received them or both, in fact before social media, it was the main way we shared digital media files with others, so a Shout out to Nathaniel Borenstein, the inventor of the e-mail attachment!
