computer science

Marlyn Meltzer

Marlyn Meltzer is a computer science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Marlyn Meltzer rather than just read about it. In short: Marlyn Wescoff Meltzer (1922 – December 7, 2008) was an American mathematician and computer programmer, and one of the six original programmers of ENIAC, the first general-purpose electronic digital computer. Early life Meltzer was born Marlyn Wescoff in Philadelphia in 1922.

Key takeaways

Marlyn Meltzer belongs to computer science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Marlyn Meltzer to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Marlyn Meltzer from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Marlyn Wescoff Meltzer (1922 – December 7, 2008) was an American mathematician and computer programmer, and one of the six original programmers of ENIAC, the first general-purpose electronic digital computer.

Early life Meltzer was born Marlyn Wescoff in Philadelphia in 1922. She graduated from Temple University in 1942.

Career Meltzer was hired by the Moore School of Engineering after graduating to perform weather calculations, mainly because she knew how to operate an adding machine. In 1943, she was hired to perform calculations for ballistics trajectories. At the time, this was accomplished by using manual desktop mechanical calculators. In 1945, she was selected to become one of the 6 original programmers of Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer (ENIAC).

ENIAC Meltzer, alongside Kathleen Antonelli, Jean Jennings Bartik, Frances Elizabeth Holberton, Frances Spence and Ruth Teitelbaum, were the original six programmers of ENIAC, a project that originally began in secret at the Moore School of Electrical Engineering at the University of Pennsylvania in 1943. ENIAC was a huge machine full of black panels and switches, containing 17,468 vacuum tubes, 7,200 crystal diodes, 1500 relays, 70,000 resistors, 10,000 capacitors and approximately 5,000,000 hand-soldered joints. It weighed more than 30 short tons, occupied 167m2 and consumed 150 kW of electricity. Its huge power requirement led to a rumor that the lights across Philadelphia would dim every time it was switched on. ENIAC was unveiled to the public on February 14, 1946, making headlines across the country. Although mentioned in Woman of the ENIAC at the time, little recognition was attributed to the women working on the computer, with attention focused on the male engineers who built the machine. Meltzer resigned from the team in 1947 to get married before ENIAC was relocated to the Aberdeen Proving Grounds. In 1997, Meltzer was inducted into the Women in Technology International Hall of Fame, along with the other original ENIAC programmers. This award was established in 1996 by WITI to "recognize, honor, and promote the outstanding contributions women make to the scientific and technological communities that improve and evolve our society".

Volunteer work Meltzer enjoyed volunteering at Shir Ami Library and Sunday school story hour. She also delivered Meals on Wheels for more than 10 years for the Greenwood House in Ewing, NJ. She was the treasurer of the Trenton/Lawrenceville chapter of Hadassah and an active member of Women for Greenwood House. During her last four years, she had knitted more than 500 chemotherapy hats for Susan B. Komen For the Cure, a non-profit organization in Philadelphia.

Death Meltzer died on December 7, 2008, in Yardley, Bucks County, Pennsylvania, United States.

Legacy In 1997 she was inducted into the Women in Technology International Hall of Fame, along with the other original ENIAC programmers. Her work on ENIAC and at the University of Pennsylvania was later recognized in the 2010 documentary film Top Secret Rosies: The Female "Computers" of WWII. The ENIAC team is also the inspiration behind the award-winning 2013 documentary The Computers. This documentary, created by Kathy Kleiman and the ENIAC Programmers Project, combines actual footage of the ENIAC team from the 1940s with interviews with the female team members as they reflect on their time working together on the ENIAC.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Marlyn Meltzer

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Marlyn Meltzer claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In computer science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Marlyn Meltzer before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Marlyn Meltzer ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Marlyn Meltzer

In research: Marlyn Meltzer appears in computer science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Marlyn Meltzer in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Marlyn Meltzer is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1922 births, 2008 deaths, 20th-century American women, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Marlyn Meltzer outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Marlyn Meltzer in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Marlyn Meltzer means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Marlyn Meltzer out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Marlyn Meltzer in simple terms?

Why does Marlyn Meltzer matter?

Because it connects several computer science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Marlyn Meltzer?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Marlyn Meltzer.