Born: December 26, 1791 (London)
Died: October 18, 1871 (London)
Babbage was offered a seat at Cambridge University at the age of 16, where he graduated and became the head mathematician. In 1828 he became the Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge University. This is the same position that Sir Isaac Newton held. Charles Babbage also helped found the Analytical Society in 1812, the Royal Astronomical in 1820, and Statistical Societies in 1834. He was elected to be a fellow of the Royal Society of London in 1816.
Babbage first invented small calculators, but then invented the first mechanical computer, the Difference Machine, which made calculations up to 20 decimals in 1823, however the full engine was not completely built because the machinist, Joseph Clement refused to continue building if he was not prepaid. Construction ended in 1833 as a result of this. In the mid 1830's Babbage began to plan the Analytical Engine, which was the forerunner of modern computers. He wanted this machine to be able to preform any calculation entered into it. The memory was larger than the storage capacity of all computers built before 1960, and the machine was meant to be operated by a single person and to use steam for energy.
Born: August 17, 1936 (Age 89)
Graduated from Earlham College in 1958 after studying mathematics and philosophy 2003 - NASAs Exceptional Space Act Award 2016 - Presidential Medal of Freedom from Barack Obama
Margaret Hamilton led the Software Engineering Division at the MIT Instrumentation lab, where she came up with the term Software Engineering to describe her and her job. This is the group of people that developed the code for both the command and lunar modules that were used in the Apollo mission. They developed the code that was used for the guidance and control systems that brought people to the moon in 1961. In the early 1960's Hamilton was involved in the Semi-Automatic Ground Environment project, which was the United States’ first air defense system. She created the software program that the military used to identify enemy aircraft. Hamilton was a cofound of Higher Order Software in 1976, then established Hamilton Technologies 10 years later.
Born: March 2, 1931 (Age 95)
Elizabeth Feinler attended West Liberty University and graduated with a B.S. degree in chemistry. Afterwards, she did graduate work in biochemistry at Purdue University under Dr. Roy Whistler. In 2000, she was inducted into the Stanford Research Institute Alumni Hall of Fame. In 2013, Elizabeth Feinler received the Jonathan B. Postel Service Award, an award given to an individual or organization that has made oustanding contribution to the internet community.
Elizabeth Fienler helped develop the first internet yellow and white page servers as well as the first query-based network host name address. Her group developed the domain-naming scheme of .com, .edu, .gov, etc. On top of this, Elizabeth Feinler managed Advanced Research Projects Agency Network, the Defense Data Network , and network information centers under contract to the Department of Defense.