Frances Spence

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The programmers Betty Jean Jennings (left) and Frances Bilas Spence (right) operate the main control panel of the ENIAC computer .

Frances Spence (born Frances Bilas ; born March 2, 1922 in Philadelphia , Pennsylvania ; † July 18, 2012 ) was one of the first female programmers of the ENIAC computer.

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Please provide evidence of when, where and by whom your importance as a programmer was downplayed due to prejudice - 79.200.214.4 10:50, 17 Mar. 2016 (CET)

Frances Spence first attended Temple University , but then received a scholarship to Chestnut Hill College . She completed her studies with a major in mathematics and a minor in physics in 1942. While still in Chestnut Hill, she met Kathleen McNulty , who later also belonged to the programming team for ENIAC. Although she was on the main programming team for ENIAC, both her and the other female team members were downplayed due to the prejudice that women are not particularly good at technology. McNulty and Spence began their work at the Moore School of Engineering , where they were responsible for calculating ballistic trajectories . Both were selected there for the first ENIAC programming team, which was to transfer these tasks to the computer.

In 1947 she married the electrical engineer Homer Spence, who initially worked for the US Army on the Aberdeen Proving Ground . He had also joined the ENIAC project and later became head of the calculation department. Shortly after the wedding, Frances Spence quit her job to start a family with her husband.

In 1997 she was inducted into the WITI Hall of Fame by the Association Women in Technology International, together with the other employees of the first programming team for ENIAC .

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supporting documents

  1. ↑ genealogybank: Frances B. Spence ( Memento December 3, 2013 in the Internet Archive ), accessed February 5, 2016
personal data
SURNAME Spence, Frances
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Bilas, Frances (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American programmer of the ENIAC computer
DATE OF BIRTH March 2, 1922
PLACE OF BIRTH Philadelphia , Pennsylvania
DATE OF DEATH July 18, 2012