EDITH CLARKE
GODMOTHERS 100 YEARS AGO
What was happening in the Godmothers sphere 100 years ago?
In 1925, Edith Clarke's patent was granted for a graphical calculator that would solve electrical engineering problems.
She was the first woman to earn a degree in electrical engineering in the US. The first professionally employed female electrical engineer hired by General Electric in 1923.
A century later, we're still fighting for women's names to stay in the story of technology.
Thank you for being here. For following. For remembering these Godmothers with us.
This is just the beginning.
TIMELINE
1925 - Edith Clarke's graphical calculator patent granted
1945 - Six female programmers train ENIAC, the first modern computer
1978 - Association for Women in Computing founded in Washington D.C.
2003 - UN says women must get access to computers and the Internet to achieve equality and opportunity worldwide
2018 - Dr. Timnit Gebru & Joy Buolamwini publish Gender Shades audit, exposing biases in large language models
Want to know more about the women behind these milestones?
Edith Clarke: Architect of Modern Power Distribution - IEEE Spectrum
Proving Ground: The Untold Story of the Six Women Who Programmed the World’s First Modern Computer by Kathy Kleiman
Association for Women in Computing: awc-hq.org
UN Commission on the Status of Women - 47th Session gendershade.org