Scene at MIT: Ruth Anderson, pioneer of mathematics and computing | MIT News
Ruth Krock Anderson is a mathematician and computing pioneer who has seen a lot in her 102 years. Born in Boston in 1918, she was interested in math from an early age and earned a mathematics degree at Boston Teachers College, now part of the University of Massachusetts. Soon thereafter, Anderson was asked to join the MIT Radiation Laboratory, which made key contributions to the development of microwave radar technology during the second world war. “There are quite a few books written about women programmers in World War II to help in the war, and I was one of them,” Anderson stated in a 2019 interview.
At MIT, Anderson worked on computer programs that assisted scientists and engineers working on new radar technology. Her colleagues at the Rad Lab included Betty Campbell and Barbara Levine, both of whom would continue on in computer science...
