In celebration of Ada Lovelace Day, this post is about a woman in technology. That woman is Erna Schneider Hoover. She may not be a household name, but you have reaped the benefits of her work in the technology field.
The better-half once worked on a telephony project and the device he interacted with on a frequent basis was called the Definity G-3 phone switch. He spent so much time with that phone switch that I used to joke with him about his girlfriend Definity.
Little did I know that calling the Definity a “she” was actually quite appropriate. Erna Schneider Hoover created the first computerized switching system for telephone calls. She held one of the first software patents issued and earned a supervisory position at Bell Labs (a novel concept back then–a woman in an authority position). The best part of the story is that while she was kicking back in the hospital after giving birth to one of her three kids, she sketched out the system…because what else would she be thinking about? Back in the mid-to-late 1950s hospitals (and insurance companies) thought women needed a little time in the hospital after child birth instead of shooting them out the door practically before the placenta passes as they do now. Think of the scientific innovations that might spring forth if there were still a few days of rest after women give birth.
Hoover’s solution to what was then a mechanical switching system being overwhelmed by call volume was to use a computer program to monitor incoming calls and then adjust the call acceptance rate accordingly. The system is known as a Stored Program Control (SPC) and the principles are still in use by phone companies.
Sources:
MIT thinks she’s neat
Engineers like Erna
Smart Computing appreciates Erna
