The Computers: The Remarkable Story of the ENIAC Programmers

Synopsis : During the Second World War, many young women were hired by the Army for their mathematical acumen, taking on a job called “Computers.” In the last days of the war, six “Computers” mastered the power of an 80 foot long, 8 foot tall, black metal machine and harnessed its power through an archaic programming interface using dozens of wires and 3000 switches. They programmed ENIAC, the first all-electronic programmable computer to perform a ballistics trajectory, a differential calculus equation important to the war effort, and they succeeded brilliantly. When the ENIAC was unveiled to the public on February 15, 1946, their program captured the imagination of the press and made headlines across the country. Afterwards, the ENIAC became a legendary machine which would pave the way for the computer age. Its engineers (all men) became famous. Never introduced or credited at the ENIAC events of the 1940s, the women programmers’ story disappeared from history. They became invisible. Until now.