Computing Pioneers
Computing Pioneers at Melbourne Connect
A new display in FEIT at Melbourne Connect celebrates three computing pioneers and stresses the importance of diversity and inclusion in computing.
The display includes:
- The original 1843 publication of Ada Lovelace’s description of Charles Babbage’s Analytical Engine, in which she envisaged that ‘a new, a vast, and a powerful language is developed for the future use of analysis’.
- Alan Turing’s original 1936 paper ‘On Computable Numbers’, in which he conceived of a stored-program computer. It also includes the programming manual for the DEUCE computer, based on Turing’s work and released in 1955, the year after Turing committed suicide following his conviction for homosexual acts.
- The original compiler system and assembly system manuals for the UNIVAC computer in 1955-56, developed by a team led by mathematician and programmer Grace Hopper.
“The celebration of Ada Lovelace and Grace Hopper is important and inspiring, but we look forward to the day when women’s achievements are not considered to be unusual or unexpected… Broadening participation in computing means we’re less likely to continue these patterns. This display is an important small step towards fulfilling this goal.“
- Holly Jones, Jenny Waycott and Renata Borovica-Gajic, members of the Diversity and Inclusion Committee of the School of Computing and Information Systems.
The display is adjacent to the Level 4 Active Hub stairs at Melbourne Connect, 700 Swanston Street.