Jean Bartik

Jean Bartik was a pioneering computer programmer and one of the original six programmers of the revolutionary ENIAC, the first general-purpose electronic digital computer. Her work was instrumental in transitioning the machine from a hardware construction to a programmable instrument, laying foundational practices for the field of software engineering. Bartik later contributed to the development of early stored-program computers and became a respected editor in the publishing industry, ultimately receiving significant posthumous recognition for her groundbreaking early contributions.

Early life and education

Born Betty Jean Jennings in Alanthus Grove, Missouri, she grew up on a farm and displayed an early aptitude for mathematics. She attended Northwest Missouri State University, originally known as Northwest Missouri State Teachers College, where she majored in mathematics with a minor in English. Her education was supported in part by a scholarship from the State of Missouri, and she graduated in 1945. With the United States heavily involved in World War II, Bartik sought work that would contribute to the war effort, leading her to answer a United States Army advertisement for women with math skills to work at the University of Pennsylvania.

ENIAC programmer

In 1945, Bartik was hired as a "computer"—a person who performed complex calculations by hand—to work on ballistics trajectories for the Ballistic Research Laboratory at the Moore School of Electrical Engineering. She was soon selected to be part of a team tasked with programming the newly built ENIAC, a secret project funded by the United States Department of War. Without manuals or programming languages, Bartik and her colleagues, including Kathleen Antonelli, Marlyn Meltzer, Frances Spence, Ruth Teitelbaum, and Betty Holberton, learned the machine's operation through its massive physical block diagrams and logical design. They successfully programmed ENIAC to perform its first public calculation for the Los Alamos National Laboratory in 1946, a demonstration that showcased the potential of electronic computing.

Post-ENIAC career

Following her work on ENIAC, Bartik joined the team led by John von Neumann at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey, contributing to the design of the IAS machine, an early stored-program computer. She later worked with Eckert–Mauchly Computer Corporation on the BINAC and UNIVAC I computers, where she wrote software and developed some of the first system software applications. After taking a career break to raise a family, she returned to the technology industry in the 1960s, working for companies including Auerbach Publishers and Data Decisions, where she became an editor of influential reports on minicomputer and database management system markets.

Recognition and legacy

For decades, the contributions of Bartik and the other ENIAC programmers were largely overlooked by historians. A resurgence of interest in the 1990s led to significant recognition. She was inducted as a Fellow of the Computer History Museum in 1997 and received the IEEE Computer Society's Computer Pioneer Award in 2008. In 2009, Bartik received an honorary Doctor of Science degree from Northwest Missouri State University. Her legacy is honored through the Jean Bartik Award at the Grace Hopper Celebration, and a documentary film, *The Computers*, featured her story. Her papers are archived at the Charles Babbage Institute.

Personal life

In 1946, she married William Bartik, an engineer she met at the Moore School of Electrical Engineering; the marriage ended in divorce. She raised three children while navigating the challenges of a technical career in the mid-20th century. Bartik was known for her sharp intellect, perseverance, and advocacy for recognizing the foundational role of women in computing. She died of complications from a heart condition in Poughkeepsie, New York in 2011.

Category:American computer programmers Category:ENIAC programmers Category:1924 births Category:2011 deaths