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Jeffy Makes It Fun JMiF is a little corner of the blogosphere where you can learn about the history of invention, innovation, and meet some really awesome folks along the way.

07/04/2026

Happy 250th, America!

Adele Goldberg💡 Adele Goldberg co-developed Smalltalk at Xerox PARC — the language that gave the world object-oriented p...
06/05/2026

Adele Goldberg

💡 Adele Goldberg co-developed Smalltalk at Xerox PARC — the language that gave the world object-oriented programming.
✨ Steve Jobs visited PARC, saw the work, and “borrowed” liberally. Goldberg reportedly tried to stop him.
đź’ˇ She built the foundation every modern interface stands on. The receipts are everywhere.

Sister Mary Kenneth Keller✝️ Sister Mary Kenneth Keller was the first woman to earn a PhD in Computer Science in the US ...
06/05/2026

Sister Mary Kenneth Keller

✝️ Sister Mary Kenneth Keller was the first woman to earn a PhD in Computer Science in the US — in 1965 — and also a Catholic nun.
✨ She helped develop BASIC, one of the most accessible programming languages ever written.
đź’ˇ A nun who helped teach millions to code. Literally a blessing for computing.

Karen Spärck Jones🔍 Karen Spärck Jones invented inverse document frequency in 1972 — the math that makes search engines ...
06/05/2026

Karen Spärck Jones

🔍 Karen Spärck Jones invented inverse document frequency in 1972 — the math that makes search engines actually work.
✨ Without her algorithm, there’s no Google. No relevant results. Just chaos.
💡 She also said “computing is too important to be left to men.” Still relevant. Painfully so.

Frances Spence💻 Frances Spence started as a human computer — doing the math by hand — before becoming one of the six wom...
06/05/2026

Frances Spence

💻 Frances Spence started as a human computer — doing the math by hand — before becoming one of the six women who programmed ENIAC.
✨ She was known for her deep physical understanding of the machine, operating it with a precision few could match.
💡 She was a computer before “computer” was a job title for machines. Let that land.

Ruth Teitelbaum💻 Ruth Teitelbaum programmed ENIAC — and then became a trainer for the next wave of programmers.✨ She did...
06/05/2026

Ruth Teitelbaum

💻 Ruth Teitelbaum programmed ENIAC — and then became a trainer for the next wave of programmers.
✨ She didn’t just crack the code. She passed the knowledge forward in a field that had no textbooks yet.
💡 In an industry obsessed with “firsts,” she was also a first teacher. That deserves its own headline.

Marlyn Meltzer💻 Marlyn Meltzer was 23 when she programmed ENIAC — responsible for ballistic trajectory calculations that...
06/05/2026

Marlyn Meltzer

💻 Marlyn Meltzer was 23 when she programmed ENIAC — responsible for ballistic trajectory calculations that left zero margin for error.
✨ She was a skilled mathematician recruited specifically for the complexity of the work.
đź’ˇ She stepped back from computing after ENIAC. But what she built first still echoes.

Betty Holbertonđź’» Betty Holberton programmed ENIAC and never stopped. She went on to help develop COBOL, FORTRAN, and ear...
06/05/2026

Betty Holberton

đź’» Betty Holberton programmed ENIAC and never stopped. She went on to help develop COBOL, FORTRAN, and early data-sorting programs.
✨ She also designed the first statistical analysis programs for the US Census.
đź’ˇ Her work still runs inside financial systems and government databases today. The receipts are literally still running.

Jean Jennings Bartik💻 Jean Jennings Bartik was one of six women who programmed ENIAC — building software from scratch us...
06/05/2026

Jean Jennings Bartik

💻 Jean Jennings Bartik was one of six women who programmed ENIAC — building software from scratch using only circuit diagrams.
✨ She went on to work on UNIVAC and spent her later years making sure the world knew who actually wrote the code.
đź’ˇ She launched the software industry, then spent decades fighting to be remembered. We remember.

Gladys West🛰️ Gladys West’s math is literally guiding your car right now.✨ She developed the geodetic models behind GPS ...
06/05/2026

Gladys West

🛰️ Gladys West’s math is literally guiding your car right now.
✨ She developed the geodetic models behind GPS while working as one of very few Black women at the Naval Proving Ground in the 1950s–70s.
💡 She didn’t get proper credit for decades. She’s now in the Air Force Space & Missile Pioneers Hall of Fame. Better late than never.

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