— — Women in Technology — —
Most of us know Alexander Bell Graham, the invented the telephone. Thomas Edison the inventor of many things including the phonograph and the movie camera. Their accomplishments do deserve great recognition but so do the many women who shaped technology into what we know today. These women deserve the representation in the media that most male inventors get with no hesitation. So that little girl sitting at home watching TV seeing a bunch of men do jobs that she wants to do one day. Can finally see a woman just like her accomplishing something that she never thought a woman could do. The representation shows that a woman can do anything a man can do and maybe even better.
During world war II, Hedy and her co-inventor George Antheil filed the patent to help U.S. ships. The ships were defenses because enemies interfered with radio signals that controlled American ships’ line of defense torpedoes. So they created a secret communication system that prevented the enemies from interfering with the torpedoes. At first, the United States military did not think her plan would work likely because she was a woman. Then later proven useful but Lamarr never seen a cent from her idea which sprouted into the technology used today
“The brains of people are more interesting than the looks I think” — Hedy Lamarr
Hedy Lamarr was a famous Austrian-American film on-screen character and inventor. She walked so today’s most universal technology like for instance Bluetooth, GPS, Wi-Fi, and cellphones Her developments were a portion of a complicated life filled with inconsistencies and tricky truths that were not a portion of her film star persona.
Grace Murray Hopper graduated from Vassar College in 1928 with a math and physics degree after being rejected the first time. After she graduated Grace went on to earn her Ph.D. in math from Yale in 1934. Like Hedy, Grace joined to help the U.S during World war II. Grace joined the United States Navy Reserves as a part of the Make I computer programming staff. She thrived at an age that is unusual for women to get such a big opportunity.
Grace was the first person to create a translator for a computer programming language. Which developed the concept of machine-independent programming languages, resulting in the development of COBOL, which is one of the first functional programming languages. She also made the term “debugging”. The term was made because there was a moth in the computer which they had to remove. She later won the presidential medal of freedom in 2016 and had a ship named after her the USS Hopper
Women like Grace Hopper, Hedy Lamarr and so many other women that have contributed to technology should be more represented in the media. Representation has always and will always be important because a lack of representation will be a lack of women like Grace Hopper and Hedy Lamarr.