Judy Clapp

Judith A. Clapp is an American computer scientist who began her career at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and was the sole female programmer among the early developers of the Whirlwind I computer. She moved to MIT Lincoln Laboratory and then to the MITRE Corporation, where she became a leader on the Semi-Automatic Ground Environment (SAGE) military air defense project, and she later took part in the Department of Defense working group that developed the Ada programming language. Her career is recognized for advancing software engineering as a discipline and for helping open computing to women, work honored by the Society of Women Engineers Achievement Award in 2001 and the Smith College Medal in 2005.