episode-header-image

Jan 2023

32m 21s

How six women programmed the world’s fir...

IMMEDIATE MEDIA

About this episode

During the Second World War, six talented mathematicians were brought together to make history. These women had one mission: to program the world’s first and only supercomputer. Speaking with Rachel Dinning, Kathy Kleiman explores the vital but overlooked role the “Eniac 6” played in the history of computing during and after the Second World War.

(Ad) Kathy Klieman is the author of Proving Ground: The Untold Story of the Six Women Who Programmed the World's First Modern Computer (Hurst, 2022). Buy it now from Amazon:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Proving-Ground-Untold-Programmed-Computer/dp/178738862X/?tag=bbchistory045-21&ascsubtag=historyextra-social-histboty

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Up next

Edward the Confessor: life of the week

Edward the Confessor, England’s penultimate Anglo-Saxon king, has long been remembered as a saintly, pious monarch – but was he really the weak ruler whose indecision paved the way for the Norman Conquest that some historical sources would have us think? And if not, how should we ... Show More

Britain and the Caribbean: from slavery to Black Lives Matter

Histories of British involvement in the Caribbean tend to focus mainly on the period of plantation slavery but, in her new book Empire Without End, Imaobong Umoren argues that we need to take a broader view. It's only by taking the story back to the 16th century and forward until ... Show More

Nationalism: everything you wanted to know

Human beings tend to identify with being in a group, and, historically, few groupings have been more potent than the idea of the nation. But when did people first embrace the idea of the nation state? Is nationalism predominantly a right-wing creed? And does it thrive during peri ... Show More

Recommended Episodes

SYMHC Classics: Alan Turing, Codebreaker

This is a revisit of a Sarah and Deblina episode on Alan Turing, who conceived of computers decades before anyone was building one. He also acted as a top-secret code breaker during World War II. Despite his accomplishments, he was prosecuted as a homosexual by the British govern ... Show More

History of Make-Up

Most of us present ourselves with some form of cosmetic, so it’s strange that historically there’s been so much judgement around the use of it. It’s something that’s been there from the Ancient world to the present day, and speaks to so much of the human experience. Today we’re j ... Show More

Sabotage & Secret Weapons: The WW2 Dirty Tricks Department

What is a bat bomb? Why would you cover a fox in radioactive paint? And who are the masterminds behind the Office of Strategic Services, the precursor to the CIA? In this episode, Don is joined by John Lisle to discuss the creations of the Research and Development branch at the O ... Show More

Women of the Trojan War

I was thrilled to be joined by Natalie Haynes. Natalie is the is the author of 'A Thousand Ships', a retelling of the Trojan War from an all-female perspective. In this podcast we discussed the classical accounts which have contributed to our modern understanding of that legendar ... Show More

Eleanor Aquitaine: The Life of a Medieval Badass

You would think that a woman who was queen several times, commanded armies and was possibly the most powerful woman in medieval Europe would need no introduction…yet here we are. On today’s show we’re joined by author and new co-host of the History Hit podcast Gone Medieval, Elea ... Show More

Barbie: Feminist Icon?

Barbie is many things: an astronaut, a robotics engineers, a judge, and now a movie star! But can she be considered a feminist icon? For a toy with such incredible appeal around the world, especially to young children, it’s an important question to ask. Today we’re joined by Le ... Show More

Female Spies of World War Two

During World War Two, dozens of British-trained women were deployed as spies and saboteurs, to infiltrate behind enemy lines in Nazi-controlled France. Ranging from housewives to countesses, they were trained as secret agents, and played critical roles to aid the war effort. But ... Show More

93. Silicon Valley Part 1

Dominic Sandbrook and Tom Holland are joined by tech pioneer Marc Andreessen. Has the internet been the most important force in modern history? In part one of this two part series they look at how the internet developed out of military technology, whether early developers knew th ... Show More

History of Sex For Sale

Many people claim sex work to be the oldest profession, but we can likely put that down to being midwifery or medical professionals of some sort. However, since money has changed hands, it has also done so for sex. In today's episode of Betwixt the Sheets we're going back to a co ... Show More

Introducing Tides of History

History does not repeat itself, but it does rhyme, said Mark Twain. From the fall of the Roman Empire to the rise of the modern world: history ebbs and flows over the centuries, driven by great tides of economic, social, political, religious, and cultural change that shape the wo ... Show More

Listen to millions of songs and podcasts on Anghami