This cache is part of an occasional series about Women in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics). The cache is not located at the posted coordinates, it can be found after you solve the puzzle at N 45° AB.CDE' W 123° FG.HIJ'. Note: for all checksums in this puzzle, continue calculating until you have a single digit number.
This cache has a personal connection, it is about some of the female computer scientists I’ve met, in approximately the order I met them. I validated this list and some of the other details with a certain now-retired computer scientist.
Unlike most of my Gen-X peers, I grew up in a house that had e-mail and computer access starting when I was in elementary school, long before these were universal tools. Our scratch paper was computer punch cards (“do not fold, spindle or mutilate”) and later computer paper with sprocket holes on the edges. The first computer terminal in the house required physically placing a phone (land line) into the cradle of the 300-baud modem; it didn’t have a screen, rather it used heat-sensitive paper. I have early memories of visiting cold computer rooms on raised floors which kept the room-sized computers from overheating, programming in LOGO, and playing the text-based computer game Adventure. I also have memories of meeting computer scientists who visited our house for social events and as overnight visitors, the latter was a way to stretch limited travel budgets to maximize in-person collaboration in the days before universal e-mail and conference calls.
Probably the first female computer scientist I met was Sister Mary Kenneth Keller who is widely believed to be the US first woman (and perhaps the first US person) to earn a PhD from a department of computer science; among her contributions to the field, Sister Mary Kenneth Keller worked on Beginner’s All-Purpose Symbolic Instruction Code (BASIC). Alas, the only “memory” I have of her comes more from a family story: When I was about 4 years old, my parents hosted a party for colleagues, and before the party my mother carefully taught me about habits so I wouldn’t stare or make embarrassing comments when Sister Mary Kenneth Keller arrived. Unbeknownst to my mother, Catholic women religious were starting to wear plain clothes, so apparently at some point during the party I asked (perhaps a bit too loudly) when I would get to see someone wearing a habit. Let AB = the product of the last two digits of the year Sister Mary Kenneth Keller earned her PhD.
One of our most frequent and favorite overnight visitors was Mary Shaw. She is currently the Alan J. Perlis University Professor of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University; she is one of the few people to hold a chair named for her PhD advisor at the school where she earned her PhD. Her work is one of the foundations of object-oriented programming, and she is recognized for developing the basic framework, or “software architecture” that supports many computer applications including antilock brakes, international banking, and medical technologies. She has been recognized with the National Medal of Technology and Innovation (the nation’s highest honor for technological achievement which is given by the president), the Stibitz Computer Pioneer Award (given to individuals who have made significant contributions to the fields of computing and science communication), and the Warnier Prize (for contributions to software engineering). She is a fellow of both the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). I still smile when I think about the time Mary Shaw helped with my 9th grade geometry homework. I was assigned to prove something but kept ending up with the opposite of what the answer at the back of the book said. Mary (she was one of the first adults I called by first name) and my father were supposed to do some work that night but instead they spent several hours trying to do the proof and kept getting the answer I got; I think they were rather relieved the next day when I reported that the book was wrong. A few years ago when she visited Portland, my sister and I, unbeknownst to each other, each thanked her profusely for being our role model as a woman in STEM. Let C= the number of years between the announcement and bestowing of Mary Shaw’s National Medal of Technology and Innovation Award. Let G = the checksum of the last two digits of the year in which President Obama bestowed her National Medal of Technology and Innovation.
I met Susan Gerhart when she worked at the same computer research institute as my father. She earned her PhD at Carnegie Mellon University. Susan Gerhart was one of the founding members of Systers, the oldest and largest mailing list for women in computing; the name combines Systems and Sisters. She spoke at the IEEE conference on Software Testing, Verification and Validation on “The Disability/Mobility Challenge: Formulating Criteria for Testing Accessibility and Usability.” She is now sem-retired and maintains the “As Your World Changes” blog on using technology to overcome vision loss. Let J = the checksum of the last two digits of the year Systers was founded.
I’m told I met Barbara Liskov at my parent’s house though I don’t recall when. Barbara Liskov is another of the first women to earn a PhD in computer science, from Stanford. She is currently Institute Professor at MIT and Ford Professor of Engineering in School of Engineering’s Electrical Engineering and computer Science department. Barbara Liskov is a member of the National Academy of Engineering, National Academy of Sciences, a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a fellow in the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), and has been inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame. Discover magazine identified her as one of the 50 most important women in science; she earned the Society of Engineers’ Achievement Award, received the IEEE John von Neumann Medal (the award is given “for outstanding advancements in computer-related science and technology” and she was recognized for “fundamental contributions to programming languages, programming methodology, and distributed systems”). Together with Jeanette Wing, she developed what others referred to as the “Liskov substitution principle” which is important in object-oriented programming which was introduced at a conference and published it several years later. She received the Turing Award (often referred to as the “Nobel Prize of Computering”) for her work in designing programming languages and software methodology that led to the development of object-oriented programming. Let D = the last digit of the year she won the Turing Prize divided by the first digit. Let H = the difference between the first and list digits of the “A behavioral notion of subtyping” was published (note, some sites list the wrong date, H will be an odd number).
Anita Jones is another computer scientist who earned her PhD from Carnegie Mellon. It’s likely I met her the summer we spent in Pittsburgh (yes, we were there so the computer scientists could collaborate in person). She worked at Carnegie Mellon, cofounded Tartan Laboratories in 1981 with her computer scientist husband Bill Wulf (who I also knew, and who collaborated with Mary Shaw), and worked at University of Virginia. She served as Director of Defense Research and Engineering for US Department of Defense 1993-1997, where she had responsibility for Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) among other things. Anita Jones received the Augusta Ada Lovelace Award for outstanding technical achievement and/or extraordinary service to the computing community through accomplishments and contributions on behalf of women in computers from the Association of Women in Computing. Her other honors include the Air Force Meritorious Civilian Service Award, Medal for Distinguished Public Service from the US Department of Defense, Distinguished Service award from the Computer Research Association, IEEE Founders Medal (presented for outstanding contributions int the leadership, planning and administration of affairs of great value tot eh electrical and electronics engineering profession), and the AAAS Philip Hauge Abelson Prize (awarded to someone who has “made signal contributions to the advancement of science in the United States” either as a public servant or scientist). She is a member of the National Academy of Engineering, Council on Foreign Relations, National Foundation’s National Science Board, American Philosophical Society, a Fellow in IEEE, and a Fellow in AAAS. The US Navy named a Seamount for Anita Jones who is cited as “orchestrating significant advances in (U.S.) Navy Oceanography computational capacity … etc.” Let E = the product of 3rd and 4th digits of the year she won the Augusta Ada Lovelace Award. Let F = the last digit of the longitude minute of the Anita Jones Seamount.
I met Rebecca Wirfs-Brock as a young adult in Portland. She graduated from University of Oregon, worked at Tektronix, and then at the company that became ParcPlace-Digitalk. As a software engineering and consultant, her work focuses on object-oriented programming and object-oriented design. She invented “responsibility-driven design” which is an early behavioral approach to object design. Responsibility-driven design differs from “data-driven design.” Let I = the last digit of the year she coined the term “responsibility-driven design” and shared it at an OOPSLA (Object-Oriented Programming, Systems, Languages & Applications) conference, though not the either of the years she served as program chair or chaired the conference.