The Computer Wore Heels: The Female Mathematicians of WWII

They were asked to serve, and math was their secret weapon.

In 1942, when computers were human and women were underestimated, a group of teenage girls used their math skills to help win a war and usher in the modern computer age.

In September of 1941, sixteen-year-old twin sisters Doris and Shirley Blumberg were beginning their senior year at Girls High School in Philadelphia. Twelve hundred miles away, ambitious sixteen-year-old Betty Jean Jennings was beginning her first semester at Northwest Missouri State Teacher’s College. Although all three girls were college bound, they had few plans beyond graduation. But less than three months later, on December 7, 1941 the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, throwing the US into World War II and setting the three girls on a course that would change both their lives and history.

The Computer Wore Heels is an interactive app, adapted from the award-winning documentary Top Secret Rosies: The Female Computers of WWII that shares the story of three teenage girls who used their brainpower to help the US win WWII. As the reader moves through the story, s/he will be able to choose to investigate primary sources related to the action, such as period documents, archival films, audio clips and photographs. This BookApp offers young people, particularly girls and young women, much needed role models in the area of science, math and computer engineering. Combining classic text-based storytelling with interactive media elements, The Computer Wore Heels shares a story of female computer pioneers who used their math skills to help win a war and usher in the modern computer age.