Bedford Public Library

Top secret Rosies, the female computers of World War II, producer/director/editor LeAnn Erickson ; writer Cynthia Baughman

eng

videorecording

Top secret Rosies

videorecording

producer/director/editor LeAnn Erickson ; writer Cynthia Baughman

57

the female computers of World War II

In 1942, a secret U.S. military program was launched to recruit women to the war effort. But unlike the efforts to recruit Rosie the Riveter to the factory, this clandestine search targeted female mathematicians who would become human 'computers' for the U.S. Army. From the bombing of Axis Europe to the assaults on Japanese strongholds, women worked around-the-clock six days a week, creating ballistics tables that proved crucial to Allied success. Rosie made the weapons, but the female computers made them accurate. When the first electronic computer (ENIAC) was developed to aid the Army's calculation efforts, six of these women were tapped to become its first programmers

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