Jeremy Keeshin (@jkeesh) / X

Jeremy Keeshin

5,942 posts

Jeremy Keeshin

@jkeesh

CEO & Cofounder @CodeHS, author @ReadWriteCode, founder @flipsideupdate. Improving CS education #ReadWriteCode - @boolcom @gotynker @codehop_ @csaiready

Chicago, IL

Joined December 2008

Jeremy Keeshin
@jkeesh
Apr 8, 2025
In 1945, six women pulled off a computing miracle. They programmed the world’s first computer—with no manuals, no training. Then, a SINGLE assumption erased them from tech history for decades. The story of how ONE photo nearly deleted computing’s female founders: 🧵
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Jeremy Keeshin
@jkeesh
Apr 8, 2025
Replying to @jkeesh
By making stories like ENIAC’s part of the canon—not the footnotes. By teaching that the first coders weren’t just women—they were visionaries. By showing every girl in tech: you’re not an exception... You’re part of a legacy...
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Jeremy Keeshin
@jkeesh
Apr 8, 2025
Replying to @jkeesh
Because for decades, their names were forgotten. It wasn’t until the 1980s when Kleiman found them and recorded their stories. By the time they were publicly honored in 1997... Most were in their seventies.
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Jeremy Keeshin
@jkeesh
Apr 8, 2025
Replying to @jkeesh
They kept building. Betty Holberton wrote the first software application. Jean Bartik worked on memory systems. Kay McNulty helped invent reusable code, or “subroutines”... So why don’t we learn about them in school?
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Jeremy Keeshin
@jkeesh
Apr 8, 2025
Replying to @jkeesh
That job fell to six women: Betty Holberton, Jean Bartik, Kay McNulty, Ruth Teitelbaum, Marlyn Meltzer, and Frances Spence. But there was a problem... They weren’t even allowed to touch the machine:
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Jeremy Keeshin
@jkeesh
Apr 8, 2025
Replying to @jkeesh
Kathy Kleiman, a young programmer, found old photos of women standing beside ENIAC—the first general-purpose computer. When she asked who they were, curators said: “Probably just models”... But Kleiman had a feeling they were something more:
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Jeremy Keeshin
@jkeesh
Apr 8, 2025
Replying to @jkeesh
The six women who made ENIAC work weren’t invited to the demo. Photos of the machine appeared in newspapers... But the people who programmed it? Not even named:
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Jeremy Keeshin
@jkeesh
Apr 8, 2025
Replying to @jkeesh
They weren’t models. They were the world’s first programmers. First, they were hired as “human computers” to calculate missile trajectories during WWII. Then chosen for a top-secret project unlike anything before:
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Jeremy Keeshin
@jkeesh
Apr 8, 2025
Replying to @jkeesh
Since women were doing it, people assumed it was secretarial—just “wiring” or “filing.” Even though it required complex math and problem-solving... Soon, the field of programming would be rewritten entirely:
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Jeremy Keeshin
@jkeesh
Apr 8, 2025
Replying to @jkeesh
There was no keyboard. Programming meant plugging thousands of cables into the right configuration—by hand. It was almost impossible to program. But they pulled it off anyway:
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Jeremy Keeshin
@jkeesh
Apr 8, 2025
Replying to @jkeesh
The credit went to the engineers who built the hardware. Why were the programmers ignored? Because back then, programming wasn’t seen as valuable work... And that perception had lasting consequences:
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Jeremy Keeshin
@jkeesh
Apr 8, 2025
Replying to @jkeesh
By inventing the process from scratch. They built algorithms, flowcharts, and step-by-step routines—on paper. Then, once granted access, they programmed ENIAC by physically rewiring it... And that’s where things got even harder:
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Jeremy Keeshin
@jkeesh
Apr 8, 2025
Replying to @jkeesh
Security restrictions kept them out of the ENIAC lab. They had to write programs using only blueprints and logic diagrams. No manuals. No programming languages... So how do you code something no one’s ever coded before?
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Jeremy Keeshin
@jkeesh
Apr 8, 2025
Replying to @jkeesh
In that gap, tech culture had completely changed. A field launched by women had become a boys’ club... But what if we hadn’t erased the founders?
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