Girls In Tech

We have all heard about, read about, and even talked right here about  – the issue of the lack of women in the technology field, particularly here in the Valley.  But, did you ever stop to wonder what it was like for women when the first computers were being developed?  Well, one who has in the past been seen on 60 Minutes and the David Letterman show could shed some light on it — She’s Grace Hopper.

One of the first women — specifically, the 3rd programmer on the world’s first computer — in the field, Ms. Hopper was a rarity and not only as far as computer engineering!

Grace Hopper was also the first woman ever to receive a doctorate in Mathematics from Yale. Breaking three different barriers in the 1940′s where women were concerned, she not only attended an Ivy league school, she also joined the Navy and went into the business world. Kurt W. Beyer has written a book about her entitled “Grace Hopper and the Invention of the Information Age,” which is definitely worth a read. In it, she is noted to be “the most numerically popular computer pioneer on the web.” Try googling her and you will see. It tells of her career from being a mathematics professor, to leaving that job to serve in the Navy in World War II, and going on to become one of the leaders of the computer revolution.

So, if you are in technology and ever in doubt about how you can make a dent in the gender gap, wondering if you should even try, I would read this book on Hopper to gather inspiration.  A very notable woman for our time, and  it is great to see her recognized in this way. (check out more here:  http://admiralgracehopper.com/)