Scientific computing in the Cavendish Laboratory and the pioneering women computors.

The use of computers and the role of women in radio astronomy and X-ray crystallography research at the Cavendish Laboratory between 1949 and 1975 have been investigated. We recorded examples of when computers were used, what they were used for and who used them from hundreds of papers published dur...

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Published in:Annals of Science Vol. 79; no. 4; pp. 497 - 513
Main Authors: Leedham, C. S., Allan, V. L.
Format: Article
Published: Taylor & Francis Ltd Oct2022
Subjects:
Online Access:View this record in EBSCOhost
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        10.1080/00033790.2022.2106382
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        atl: Scientific computing in the Cavendish Laboratory and the pioneering women computors.
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          Leedham, C. S.
          Allan, V. L.
        affil:
          Institute of Astronomy, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
          Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
      su:
        Computers
        Radio astronomy
        Crystallography
        Cavendish Laboratory (Cambridge, England)
        Authors
      sug:
        subj:
          Computers
          Radio astronomy
          Crystallography
          Cavendish Laboratory (Cambridge, England)
          Authors
      keyword:
        history of computing
        History of physics
        history of women in science
      ab: The use of computers and the role of women in radio astronomy and X-ray crystallography research at the Cavendish Laboratory between 1949 and 1975 have been investigated. We recorded examples of when computers were used, what they were used for and who used them from hundreds of papers published during these years. The use of the EDSAC, EDSAC 2 and TITAN computers was found to increase considerably over this time-scale and they were used for a diverse range of applications. The majority of references to computer operators and programmers referred to women, 57% for astronomy and 62% for crystallography, in contrast to a very small proportion, 4% and 13% respectively, of female authors of papers.
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