Wilkes, Mary Allen oral history part 1 of 2
In the first part of her oral history, Mary Allen Wilkes begins with a discussion of her family background and youth. She describes her experiences as a high school student at Baltimore Friends School, from which she graduated in 1955. She recounts her desire to be a lawyer and her affinity for mathematics and logic as she began her undergraduate studies at Wellesley College, from which she graduated in 1959 as a philosophy major. Following the suggestion of an Eighth-grade teacher that she might enjoy computer programming, Wilkes applied for programming jobs at MIT immediately after graduation. She quickly secured a job at the Lincoln Laboratory, working for Oliver Selfridge and Ben Gold. After a year studying in Vienna, she returned to the Lincoln Lab in 1961 where she joined Wesley Clark’s group. There she participated in the effort to build the LINC computer from the earliest days. The majority of the oral history is devoted to Wilkes’ experiences in the LINC effort through 1965, where she led the development of its system software.
Item Details
- Date
- 2021-07-28 (Made)
- Type
- Moving Image
- Catalogue number
- 102792263
- Organization
- Computer History Museum (Publisher)
- People
- David C. Brock (Interviewer)
Mary Allen Wilkes (Interviewee) - Category
- Oral History
- Format
- MOV
- Credit line
- Computer History Museum
- Extent
- 02:22:16
- Place of publication
- USA/MA/Cambridge
- Language
- English
- Acquisition number
- X9522.2021
- Archive collection
- CHM Oral History collection
- Archive hierarchy
- Oral History collection