Frances Spence
Frances Spence | |
---|---|
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania , U.S. | |
Died | July 18, 2012 | (aged 90)
Alma mater | |
Occupation | Computer programmer |
Employer(s) | Moore School of Electrical Engineering, University of Pennsylvania |
Spouse | Homer W. Spence (1947-death) |
Children | 3 |
Awards | Women in Technology International Hall of Fame |
Frances V. Spence (née Bilas; March 2, 1922 – July 18, 2012[1]) was one of the original programmers for the ENIAC (the first electronic digital computer). She is considered one of the first computer programmers in history.[2]
The other five ENIAC programmers were Betty Holberton, Ruth Teitelbaum, Kathleen Antonelli, Marlyn Meltzer, and Jean Bartik.
Early life
She was born Frances V. Bilas in
Bilas attended the South Philadelphia High School for Girls and graduated in 1938.[2] She originally attended Temple University, but switched to Chestnut Hill College after being awarded a scholarship. She majored in mathematics with a minor in physics and graduated in 1942. While there, she met Kathleen Antonelli, who later also became an ENIAC programmer.[citation needed]
Personal life
In 1947, she married Homer W. Spence, an Army electrical engineer from the
Frances Spence had continued working on the ENIAC in the years after the war, but shortly after her marriage, she resigned to raise a family.[2]
ENIAC career
This section needs additional citations for verification. (August 2022) |
The ENIAC project was a classified project by the
Photos of the women working on the computer often went without credit in newspapers at the time, and when the ENIAC was completed and unveiled to the public on February 15, 1946, the US Army failed to mention the names of the female programmers who had programmed the machine to run such sophisticated calculations.[4] This further contributed to the perceived disconnect between women and computing.[citation needed]
Frances Bilas and the other women were originally hired by the
Bilas and her Chestnut Hill College classmate
Legacy
In 1997, Spence was inducted into the
In 2010, a documentary called, "Top Secret Rosies: The Female "Computers" of WWII" was released. The film centered around in-depth interviews of three of the six women programmers, focusing on the commendable patriotic contributions they made during World War II.
The ENIAC team is the inspiration behind the award-winning 2013 documentary The Computers.[8] This documentary, created by Kathy Kleiman and the ENIAC Programmers Project, combines actual footage of the ENIAC team from the 1940s with interviews with the female team members as they reflect on their time working together on the ENIAC.[9] It is the first documentary of a series of three, and parts two and three will be entitled The Coders and The Future-Maker, respectively.[10]
See also
- Kathleen Antonelli
- Jean Bartik
- Betty Holberton
- Adele Goldstine
- Ruth Teitelbaum
- Marlyn Meltzer
- Timeline of women in science
References
- ^ "Frances B. Spence". genealogybank. Retrieved December 1, 2013.(subscription required)
- ^ a b c d e f g "Frances V. Spence profile". Frances Spence. IEEE Global History Network. Retrieved October 30, 2014.
- ^ "The Forgotten Female Programmers Who Created Modern Tech". NPR.org. NPR. Retrieved November 1, 2014.
- ^ "Programming the ENIAC". Columbia University. Retrieved November 2, 2014.
- ^ "Famous Women in Computing". LinuxChix Magazine. Archived from the original on April 2, 2015. Retrieved November 1, 2014.
- ^ "WITI Hall of Fame". WITI - Women in Technology International. Retrieved October 27, 2013.
- ^ "Penn Library Exhibitions". University of Pennsylvania. Penn Library. Retrieved January 15, 2017.
- ^ "ENIAC Programmers Project - Documentary Info". ENIAC Programmers Project. Retrieved 2020-05-24.
- ^ "The Computers Documentary". The ENIAC Programmers Project. Retrieved November 2, 2014.
- ^ "History's Female Programmers Will No Longer Be Forgotten". ReadWrite. 6 September 2014. Retrieved November 2, 2014.