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Miriam D. Mann
Miriam Daniel Mann (1907–1967) was one of the first Black computer (occupation), female computers for the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA). Biography Mann was born in 1907, in Covington, Georgia. She attended Talladega College. She was married to Bill Mann, with whom she had three children. In 1943, in the wake of labor shortages caused by World War II, Mann responded to a recruitment drive for Black female mathematicians by the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA). She subsequently attended a 10-week training course at Hampton Institute and was accepted for a position as a "human computer". At the time she was hired the state of Virginia was Racial segregation in the United States, segregated, as was the NACA campus at Langley Air Force Base, Langley, Virginia. Mann repeatedly removed the "COLORED COMPUTERS" sign segregating the cafeteria. The sign was replaced each time until Mann removed it a final time and it was never replaced. Mann worked ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Computer (occupation)
The term "computer", in use from the early 17th century (the first known written reference dates from 1613), meant "one who computes": a person performing mathematical calculations, before electronic computers became commercially available. Alan Turing described the "human computer" as someone who is "supposed to be following fixed rules; he has no authority to deviate from them in any detail." Teams of people, often women from the late nineteenth century onwards, were used to undertake long and often tedious calculations; the work was divided so that this could be done in parallel. The same calculations were frequently performed independently by separate teams to check the correctness of the results. Since the end of the 20th century, the term "human computer" has also been applied to individuals with prodigious powers of mental arithmetic, also known as mental calculators. Origins in sciences Astronomers in Renaissance times used that term about as often as they called themse ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
