Abstract
The Modern Age, defined largely as the first half of the twentieth century, saw some of the best, and the worst, consequences of humankind’s inventive ability. Few families even today are untouched, in some way, by the effects of the two great, global conflicts of this epoch, and few were spared the economic effects of the Great Depression.
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Notes
- 1.
Crosby was a central figure in the so-called Lost Generation of mainly American writers living in Paris in the 1920s. The story of her exploits, living with her husband Harry on the proceeds of his substantial trust fund, and involving drugs, wild parties, an open marriage, and even a suicide pact is an interesting counterpoint to her inventive abilities!
- 2.
These events were where young women who had reached adulthood signalled their eligibility to young men in their social circle.
- 3.
Image Credit: http://www.uspto.gov, Public Domain.
- 4.
Mach, E. (1896). On the part played by accident in invention and discovery. The Monist, 6(2), 161–175.
- 5.
Image Credit: Public Domain (published in the USA between 1924 and 1977 without a copyright notice).
- 6.
These control signals, incidentally, are used to steer the torpedo onto its target. Many torpedoes at this time were unguided and might easily miss their target if mis-aimed.
- 7.
I recently (November 2019) came across a post on social media, by what looked like a genuine and reputable “magazine”, claiming that she invented a “sonar sub-locator” which helped win the Battle of the Atlantic. This is nonsense. For me, it is not necessary to invent a fantasy version of her story—the truth is just as impressive!
- 8.
Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer (ENIAC) was the first electronic, general-purpose computer, and was developed at the University of Pennsylvania.
- 9.
Source: “The Woman Who Spoke to Computers”. The Attic. https://www.theattic.space/home-page-blogs/2019/5/31/the-woman-who-taught-computers-to-listen.
- 10.
Readers who have seen the 2014 film The Imitation Game will be familiar with this type of computer. The machine depicted in the film was developed by Alan Turing and used at Bletchley Park in the UK to break German codes.
- 11.
Image Credit: Flickr: Grace Hopper and UNIVAC. Creative Commons 2.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/legalcode.
- 12.
A computer utility that combines object files generated by a compiler into a single executable file.
- 13.
If WOBBLE is actually an instruction in FLOW-MATIC or COBOL, then I retract my statement!
- 14.
This example is taken from Sammet, Jean (1969). Programming Languages: History and Fundamentals. Prentice-Hall, pp. 316–324. ISBN 0-13-729988-5.
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Cropley, D.H. (2020). The Modern Age (1880–1950): Bras, Bombs, and Bits. In: Femina Problematis Solvendis—Problem solving Woman. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-3967-1_10
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