You may be surprised...
Search
Profile
My scientific specialty is chronobiology (circadian rhythms and photoperiodism), with additional interests in comparative physiology, animal behavior and evolution. I am not an MD so I cannot diagnose and treat your sleep problems. As well as writing this blog, I am also the Online Discussion Expert for PLoS. This is a personal blog and opinions within it in no way reflect the policies of PLoS. You can contact me at: Coturnix@gmail.com
Buy the 2008 Science Blogging Anthology:
Buy the 2007 Science Blogging Anthology:
Buy the 2006 Science Blogging Anthology:
Recent Posts
- Clock Quotes
- The craziest fish jaws ever (video)
- Interview with Felice Frankel
- National Day of Listening (and blogging about it)
- The Open Laboratory 2009 - one of the last calls for submission!
- Today's carnivals
- ScienceOnline2010 - Program highlights 3
- Clock Quotes
- Pets Teach Science: 16 golden retrievers explain atoms (video)
- Today's carnivals
Recent Comments
- shubham maurya on Protein Synthesis: Transcription and Translation
- Michael D. Barton on Museum lecture traces historic Beagle voyage
- Child Psych on Seasonal Affective Disorder - The Basics
- Karen James on ScienceOnline2010 - introducing the participants
- Coturnix on Introducing the (rigorously peer-reviewed, of course) PLoS store!
- supplements on Introducing the (rigorously peer-reviewed, of course) PLoS store!
- daedalus2u on New and Exciting in PLoS this week
- Tracy on Introducing the (rigorously peer-reviewed, of course) PLoS store!
- Liz Allen on Introducing the (rigorously peer-reviewed, of course) PLoS store!
- Greg Laden on Introducing the (rigorously peer-reviewed, of course) PLoS store!
Archives
- November 2009
- October 2009
- September 2009
- August 2009
- July 2009
- June 2009
- May 2009
- April 2009
- March 2009
- February 2009
- January 2009
- December 2008
- November 2008
- October 2008
- September 2008
- August 2008
- July 2008
- June 2008
- May 2008
- April 2008
- March 2008
- February 2008
- January 2008
- December 2007
- November 2007
- October 2007
- September 2007
- August 2007
- July 2007
- June 2007
- May 2007
- April 2007
- March 2007
- February 2007
- January 2007
- December 2006
- November 2006
- October 2006
- September 2006
- August 2006
- July 2006
- June 2006
Blogroll
Find me on...
Make Me Happy
Add Scienceblogs to your Technorati Favorites!
Make Me Solvent
I Support
Bloggie Stuff
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.
« Junk Folder | Main | My picks from ScienceDaily »
Do you know who programmed the first true computer (the ENIAC)?
Category: History of Science
Posted on: January 13, 2008 8:37 PM, by Coturnix
Find more posts in: 
Humanities & Social Science
Technology
Share this: Facebook Twitter Stumbleupon Reddit Email + More
TrackBacks
TrackBack URL for this entry: http://scienceblogs.com/mt/pings/61235
Comments
stories like this one are reasonably well known in computer programmers' circles, yes, although i hadn't encountered this particular one before myself. (us computer geeks also tend to pay Adm. Grace Hopper her proper respects; most of us have even forgiven her for inventing COBOL.)
the earliest computer pioneers worked, by historical happenstance, during world war two. the gender-historical results of that were much as the article describes --- a lot of them were women, more than would have been the case had it been peacetime during that era, and most of them never got their proper credit until a generation or two afterwards; some of them still haven't.
that said, computer-related fields even today tend to be unreasonably male dominated for reasons mostly to do with culture and sociology --- which us geeks in 'em can't seem to wrap our heads around enough to fix, unfortunately. programming, by its nature, ought to be among the more egalitarian things to do, but isn't. this is regrettable, but if i knew how to fix it, i wouldn't be whining about it on random blogs.
since it's a sociological problem, and since a lot of us geeks are terminally socially inept (that stereotype has more truth to it than i'd like), and since that social ineptness is a large factor in both creating and perpetuating the problem as well as a hindrance to its solution --- i see no way it can be solved from inside the field. social or economical pressures from outside it might do it; perhaps the current wave of outsourcing to India and China might help, provided those countries' cultural misogynies can be overcome.
Posted by: Nomen Nescio | January 14, 2008 9:31 AM