‘Broad Band’ Computing History, Science Talent Search. March 9, 2018, Part 2

Science Friday

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🗓️ 9 March 2018

⏱️ 47 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In the history of male-dominated computer science, there are a few women who have gotten attention and credit for their contributions. Famously, Ada Lovelace wrote the first algorithm designed for a computer, and foresaw that such machines could do much more than math alone. Grace Hopper, after programming Harvard’s Mark 1 computer during World War II, went on to develop the first program compiler and helped make software programming accessible to more people. But as Claire Evans writes in her new book, Broad Band: The Untold Story of the Women Who Made the Internet, even more women were part of the internet’s rise at every step along the way. She joins Ira to tell their story. Plus: What were you doing when you were in high school? Were you investigating how supernovae explode? Designing 3D-printed nano-devices that can absorb bacterial toxins? Writing algorithms to detect gender bias in the news? Those are just a few of the ambitious projects more than 1,800 high school science whizzes submitted to the Regeneron Science Talent Search, a competition founded by the Society for Science and the Public. One thing is for sure: If these students are the future, the future is looking bright.

Transcript

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0:00.0	This is Science Friday. I'm Ira Flito. Here's a number for you. Familiar number?
0:05.0	1984. No, I'm not talking about the George Orwell novel. I'm talking about the year that women's numbers started to decline in computer science.
0:15.4	Until 1984, the number of women with computer science degrees had been rising steadily.
0:21.6	Those studying computer science went from 15% women in 1970 to 35% in 1984, and then it all started to go down.
0:32.3	Today, women only hold about a quarter of computing jobs.
0:36.4	This problem is well documented and much bemoaned, but it might surprise you to hear
0:41.0	that before this decline, women had their hands all over tech.
0:45.4	Remember the hidden figures of NASA's human computers?
0:48.3	That's not the only story of women's early participation in tech.
0:52.5	Women were programmers and engineers.
0:54.7	They helped build some of the structure of our modern internet.
0:58.1	Univac to ARPANET to hypertext.
1:00.6	They built social networks.
1:02.2	They helped the internet become a place where information had meaning and interconnection.
1:07.4	And don't forget Ada Lovelace, who wrote the first algorithm for a computer.
1:11.9	Here to tell some of these stories is Claire Evans.
1:14.2	She's author of a new book, Broadband, the untold story of the women who made the Internet.
1:19.8	And we want to know if you're a woman who was online or just into computing in its early days,
1:25.0	give us a call.
1:25.6	Our number 844-724-8255, 844-Sy-Talk, or you can tweet us at SciFry.
1:33.6	I'm welcome you to Science Friday, Claire.
1:36.4	Hi.
	...

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