Joan Clarke – Enigma Code Breaker in World War 2
Joan Clarke (1917 – 1996) was an English cryptanalyst that was well known for her role as a code-breaker during the Second World War. She worked along with Alan Turing at Hut 8 in Bletchley Park (Their top-secret lair!!!) and was the only woman there that worked on decrypting the German Enigma messages. And she was paid less than her male co-workers even though she held the same position as them. (Sexism much?!)
Joan Clarke was eventually promoted to a Linguist (Even though she did not know any other languages!) so that she might get a pay raise as there was no policy in place for a Senior Cryptanalyst who was a female. It is reported that in response to this, She enjoyed answering any questionnaire with ‘Grade: Linguist, Languages: none’ (Oh…the irony!!!)
Fun Fact: Joan Clarke was played by Keira Knightley in The Imitation Game, a 2014 movie based on the life of Alan Turing. (Do watch it, it’s great!!!)
5 Women Programmers Who Changed The World!
Did you know that the First Computer Programmer was a Woman?
Well, you probably don’t (I didn’t either!). So let me enlighten you today! Ada Lovelace was a mathematician in Victorian Times (Yes that long ago!) and she is credited as being the First Computer Programmer Ever. In her own words:
That brain of mine is something more than merely mortal; as time will show.
And this is true for the many women that have contributed to the rich history of Computer Programming and are yet forgotten by the modern world. So this article attempts to introduce some of these amazing women that made significant contributions to Computer Programming and in the process helped change the world!