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Kathleen McNulty

Also Known As Kathleen Antonelli
Computer Systems Organization

Kathleen McNulty was an Irish-American mathematician and one of the six original programmers of the ENIAC, selected from the Moore School of Electrical Engineerings wartime corps of women who had been computing ballistics trajectories by hand. With her five colleagues she worked out how to set the machines plugboards and switches to carry out complex calculations before ENIAC had any way to store a program internally, work later recognized as founding the practice of computer programming. She later married ENIAC co-inventor John Mauchly.

Facts
Birth Year
1921 1
Birth Date
1921-02-12 1
Death Year
2006 1
Death Date
2006-04-20 1
Nationality
Irish 1
Award
Women in Technology Hall of Fame 2
FAQs

Why did programming the ENIAC take so long if it computed so fast?

Setup through plugs and switches often took one or two days for a calculation that ran in about 10 seconds.

The ENIAC could finish a ballistics calculation in about 10 seconds, but setting it up for a new set of problems often took one or two days. It was programmed through plugs and switches, and the programmers, including Kathleen McNulty, had to work out the sequence of steps for each problem and then set the machine up to follow it.
In the Other Atlases

Nationality

Ireland

Also in Geography Atlas: the nationality of this subject.

Source Wikipedia: Kathleen McNultyLead paragraph of the cited Wikipedia articletier 2
Quote, Lead paragraph of the cited Wikipedia article
12 February 1921 – 20 April 2006), known as Kay McNulty, was an Irish computer programmer and one of the six original programmers of the ENIAC, one of the first general-purpose electronic digital computers.
Sources
1. Wikipedia: Kathleen McNulty
Wikimedia FoundationLead section
Quote, Lead section
Kathleen Rita Antonelli (née McNulty; formerly Mauchly; 12 February 1921 - 20 April 2006), known as Kay McNulty, was an Irish computer programmer and one of the six original programmers of the ENIAC, one of the first general-purpose electronic digital computers.
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2. Kathleen McNulty (Wikidata)
Wikidata P166: Women in Technology Hall of Fame
Quote, Wikidata P166: Women in Technology Hall of Fame
Wikidata P166 (award received): Women in Technology Hall of Fame.
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