How six women shaped the course of modern computing

By Sheilah Kast,

Published November 28, 2022 at 10:05 AM EST

Even those of us who are not very tech-savvy have an idea that there’s a gender gap in technology … but also that women seem to be closing it. What most of is don’t know is much about what women were doing in the early days of the Information Age

Would you be surprised to learn that the very first programmers were women--and they did it on a project generated by U.S. Army’s Aberdeen Proving Ground in the northeast corner of Maryland at the end of World War II?

Lawyer Kathy Kleiman tells the women’s story in her new book: Proving Ground: The Untold Story of the Six Women Who Programmed the World’s First Modern Computer.

Links: Kleiman in Conversation Wed. 11/30 6pm, ENIAC Programmers Project.

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Sheilah Kast

Sheilah Kast is the host of On The Record, Monday-Friday, 9:30-10:00 am.

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Melissa Gerr

Melissa Gerr is a Senior Producer for On the Record. She started in public media at Twin Cities Public Television in St. Paul, Minn., where she is from, and then worked as a field producer for Oregon Public Broadcasting in Portland. She made the jump to audio-lover in Baltimore as a digital media editor at Mid-Atlantic Media and Laureate Education, Inc. and as a field producer for "Out of the Blocks." Her beat is typically the off-beat with an emphasis on science, culture and things that make you say, 'Wait, what?'

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Maureen Harvie

Maureen Harvie is Senior Supervising Producer for On the Record. She is a graduate of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, and joined WYPR in 2014 as an intern for the newsroom. Whether coordinating live election night coverage, capturing the sounds of a roller derby scrimmage, interviewing veterans, or booking local authors, she is always on the lookout for the next story.

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