Results for: tech time warp
Tech Time Warp: The First Case of Ransomware
The WannaCry ransomware attack once again brings the need for backup and security solutions into focus, but ransomware is nothing new. The first case of ransomware, chock-full of “truth is stranger than fiction” details, occurred in 1989. The PC Cyborg...
Pioneers in Tech: Happy birthday, Telle Whitney!
A very happy birthday to Telle Whitney, whose experiences as a female computer scientist in 1980s and 1990s Silicon Valley inspired work that has made her one of the foremost champions for women in the tech industry. Born June 5,...
Pioneers in Tech: Why you should know Ida Rhodes
The Jewish calendar has been closely tied to mathematics for centuries—but it wasn’t until 1977 that Hebrew dates could be calculated by a computer program. The breakthrough was the work of retired human “computer” Ida Rhodes, born Hadassah Itzkowitz in...
Pioneers in Tech: Frances “Poppy” Northcutt, the first woman in Mission Control
All eyes have been on Artemis 2 this week and its many firsts. These include the first woman to fly to the moon (Christina Koch) and the first female launch director of a crewed launch (Charlie Blackwell-Thompson). That’s why this...
Pioneers in Tech: Joan Clarke, Bletchley Park codebreaker
The stories of the women of Bletchley Park—the secret British codebreaking facility during World War II—are only now becoming known, much like those of the “hidden figures” of NASA. How women helped break the unbreakable Thousands of women worked at...
Pioneers in Tech: Frederick McKinley Jones, inventor of mobile refrigeration
We can thank inventor Frederick McKinley Jones, for the proliferation of food choices we enjoy on a daily basis. The modern grocery store—which houses tropical fruits, exotic imported cheese, and frozen sushi-grade fish—was first made possible by Jones’ 1941 invention,...
Pioneers in Tech: Sandra Bullock, Academy award winner, actress, producer, internet pioneer
Your socials may have been buzzing in the past few days with an exciting bit of resurfaced news. One of America’s most popular actresses—known for her girl-next-door persona and rise to stardom in the 1990s—is also a pioneer in technology....
Pioneers in Tech: Happy birthday to the mayor of Silicon Valley
This week marks the 98th anniversary of the birth of Robert Noyce, often called the “Mayor of Silicon Valley.” He got the name from not only his tech innovations, but also his tech culture innovations. Interestingly, his career path could...
Pioneers in Tech: Robert Fano, a man of many gifts
Technology pioneer Robert Fano’s contributions to computer science are many—so many, indeed, that it would be best to frame them as his Massachusetts Institute of Technology colleague (and fellow innovator) Fernando Carbato did. Fano, he said, had “at least four...
Pioneers in Tech: Honoring John Atanasoff, inventor of the digital computer
Born Oct. 4, 1903, John Vincent Atanasoff is not just the inventor of the electronic digital computer—he’s the legally proclaimed inventor of the digital computer. On March 19, 1972, in the case Honeywell v. Sperry Rand, a judge ruled that...
