Have you ever wondered why all 9 Nobel laureates at Bell Labs are men?
Only in recent history have women been accepted in high-level fields of science and technology, traditionally dominated by men.
This was no exception at Bell Labs, where all the technicians in the early years were men.
Bell Labs was founded in 1925, but it wasn't until the early 1940s that the first women joined the technologists;
The wartime economy needed more labor, and women began to fill the jobs left behind by men, taking on increasingly important roles at Bell Labs and similar research institutes.
These women began in administrative and assistant positions, then worked directly in computing and experimentation, and by the mid-20th century they held research positions in various departments at Bell Labs.
Today, women make up almost half of the U.S. workforce, but only 24 percent of STEM jobs are held by women.
There's still a lot of progress going on in this regard, but first, let's celebrate the work of several women at Bell Labs who have inspired a growing number of future female researchers.
Human-Machine: The Invisible Brain of Bell Labs
Before the era of cheap electronic computing, research institutions relied on humans to handle large numbers.
This is popular with women, and as a result, many of Bell Labs' complex calculations are performed by human computers that are predominantly female.
Betty Shannon, one of the bell labs, also happens to be the wife of the famous researcher Claude Shannon.
She helped her husband edit many of today's highly regarded calculations and papers.
Elizabeth A. Wood: Bell Labs' first female researcher
Who is she and what is she known for? Elizabeth (Betty) Wood graduated from Barnard College and Brynmore College, where she received her Ph.D. degree.
In geology.
Before joining technicians at Bell Telephone Laboratories in 1943, she worked as a professor and research assistant, the first woman to do so.
A pioneer in crystallography, Wood worked in the Physics Research Department and maintained an active crystallography program for 24 years.
Her work involves studying crystal growth, structure, and their conductivity and magnetism.
Through these experiments, she developed new superconductors by applying electric fields and changing the phase of materials.
What are the implications? Wood's work contributed to the development of superconductors and solid-state lasers.
Bell Labs placed so much value on her expertise and presence that she was involved in the first video phone call between Mrs. Bird Johnson and herself in 1964.
She has published several articles on physics and crystallography, both technical and non-technical.
She has served on the boards of several national associations and organizations and is a founding member of the American Crystallography Association. She became her first female president in 1957.
Erna Schneider Hoover: The mother of electronic switches
Who is she and what is she known for?
Erna Schneider Hoover graduated from Wellesley College and Yale University with a Ph.D.
In Logic and Philosophy of Science.
When Hoover joined the team in 1953, her husband was already working at Bell Labs.
Initially, Hoover worked on image telephony technology and overseas dialing.
She is best known for the critical development of Electronic Switching System No. 1 (ESS), the first large-scale computerized switching system in the Bell system.
She received one of the first software patents ever issued for stored program control.
Hoover sketched these groundbreaking ideas for the first time during his hospitalization after giving birth to a daughter.
She also oversees the control of procedures used in the U.S. Air Force's Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) Silos for The Safeguards Anti-Ballistic Missile Defense System.
What are the implications?
Her contributions to ESS employ symbolic logic and feedback theory to control the frequency of incoming calls in call centers.
Her automated systems have dramatically improved the overload problem in call centers and paved the way for the future of electronic switching.
In 1978, she was appointed Head of Operations Support, the first woman to head the technical department. In 2008, she was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame.
Shirley Ann Jackson: Physicist, advocate and consultant
Theoretical physicist Shirley Ann Jackson is the first African-American woman to graduate from MIT with a Ph.D. degree.
1968.
She joined Bell Labs in 1976 as a technician.
Jackson's work at Bell Labs varied during her 15-year tenure.
She joined the Department of Theoretical Physics, then the Division of Scattered and Low-Energy Physics, and later the Department of Solid and Quantum Physics.
Jackson was involved in materials research, charge density wave theory, and neutrino reactions.
Jackson continued to serve as a semiconductor theory consultant at Bell Labs throughout the early 1990s.
What are the implications? Jackson's research contributed to the field of charge density waves in layered compounds.
Her work explores the polarizer aspects of two-dimensional electronic systems and the channels of heavy ions in solids and semiconductors.
Her expertise has been recognized with several honors and leadership positions.
Jackson was appointed Chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Council (NRC) during president Clinton's presidency in 1995 and served on Barack Oba President Ma's Science and Technology Advisory Board in 2014, where he served as co-chair of the President's Advisory Council on Intelligence.
Her work at the NRC promotes risk management for nuclear power plants at the national and international levels. In 1999, Jackson became the 18th dean of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, the first female african-American to hold the position.
In 2012, she became an International Fellow at the Royal Academy of Engineering (FREng) and was awarded the National Medal of Science in 2014.
She continues to advocate for underrepresented students to pursue higher education.
Cherry Murray: From Fellow to Federal Advisor
Who is she and what is she known for? Cherry Murray received her Ph.D.
Ph.D. in Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
She received an IBM Graduate Fellowship and continued her graduate and postdoctoral research in ultra-high vacuum and surface physics.
Murray began working as a technician at bell labs in 1978 as a technician at the Physics Laboratories and was promoted to Head of Solid and Cryogenic Physics Research, Head of Condensed Matter Physics, Head of Semiconductor Physics Research, and Director of Physics.
She left Bell Labs in 2004 to serve as Senior Vice President of Physical Sciences and Wireless Research.
What are the implications? She is best known for her contributions to condensed matter, solid and cryogenic physics, and light scattering techniques that inform surface physics and photon behavior.
Her scientific achievements are reflected in the development of lab-on-a-chip equipment, quantum optics, and engineering nanotechnology.
Murray was appointed Director of the Department of Energy's Science Office in 2015. She has served on more than 100 scientific advisory boards, including as president of the American Physical Society.
In 2014, she received the National Medal for Technology and Innovation, the nation's highest honor for scientists, for her leadership in telecommunications development, light scattering research, and STEM.
Elsa Reichmanis: Developing the telecommunications materials of the future
Elsa Reichmanis received his Ph.D. degree.
He received his Ph.D. in chemistry from Syracuse University and joined Bell Labs in 1978. Bell Labs Researcher Reichmanis became Director of the Materials Research Department and the Advanced Materials Integration Research Division.
Reichmanis helped develop new lithography materials and improved integrated circuit processing methods.
She studies how chemical structures affect material function, which will ultimately inform advances in lithography materials and the manufacture of very large scale integrated circuits.
Reichmanis' research in the field of optics and microlithography has greatly enhanced the current understanding of the manufacture of materials for electronic devices.
She designs materials that reduce the size of silicon chips while improving performance.
In 2001, she received the Perkin Medal from the Chemical Industry Association (SCI), the highest honor in the Chemical Industry in the United States.
Alice White: Materials Scientist and Vice President of Bell Labs
Alice White grew up in a family full of physicists and was passionate about science from an early age.
She attended Middlebury College, majoring in physics.
During the summer, she interned at Bell Labs, studying liquid crystals and helium. She eventually received a scholarship from Bell Labs to enter Harvard and earn her Ph.D.
In physics. White returned to Bell Labs and was involved in research in many areas of manufacturing and materials science.
Specifically, she focuses on electron transport and the structure of silicon wafers in metal wires at low temperatures.
Until 2013, she served as Chief Scientist and Vice President at Bell Labs.
White discovered mesocrystals, the injection and growth of metals in silicon wafers, which played an important role in the development of small electronic devices.
In addition, her work on "silicon light holder" technology has been used in laser and detector technology as well as optical waveguide interconnects.
She remains an advocate for minorities pursuing physics.
Laurie Spiegel: Turning computers into composers
Laurie Spiegel was a pioneer in computer graphics and computer music and can be considered the embodiment of A (art) in STEAM.
Spiegel studied composition at the Juilliard School in New York and then earned a master's degree in music composition from Brooklyn College.
In 1973, she joined Bell Labs to develop computer music.
At Bell Labs, she developed algorithmic logic in composition and worked on synthesizers and intelligent computer software for music generation.
Using the newly developed C language, she studied the GROOVE system, a hybrid computer-controlled simulation system used to compose early computer music, and alles Machine (Alice), which is considered the first true addition or real-time synthesizer.
What are the implications? Her explorations at Bell Labs are at the forefront of computer graphics and synthesis.
She went on to create the Music Mouse, a smart instrument, an algorithmic music creation software.
Her work for johannes Kepler's Harmonices Mundi was the opening song for the 1977 album Sound of the Earth, which boarded the Voyager spaceship.
Her work has appeared on film scores.
Ingrid Daubechies: Developing wavelet theory
Ingrid Daubechies received his B.S. and Ph.D. in physics from Vrije Universiteit Brussel.
In 1987, she joined the technicians at bell labs' mathematical research center.
She is best known for her orthogonal Daubechies wavelets and biorthogonal Cohen-Daubechies-Feauveau wavelets.
Wavelets are the short parts of waves, and their mathematical description plays an important role in digital signal processing.
While at Bell Labs, Ingrid developed a formula for tightly supporting continuous wavelets that requires minimal processing in use.
This results in a significant increase in signal processing power.
Wavelets are mathematical building blocks that allow complex things to be broken down in a multi-scale manner.
For example, wavelets in medical imaging applications can reduce a patient's radiation exposure.
In the United States, the FBI uses them to encode digitized fingerprints.
Wavelets from the Cohen-Daubechies-Feauveau family of wavelets are used in the JPEG 2000 image compression standard.
Wavelets are also used for artwork restoration and counterfeit detection.
Daubechies was promoted to IEEE Fellow in 1999 for her "Contributions to Wavelet Theory, and she was also awarded the 2011 IEEE Jack S. Kilby Signal Processing Medal for "Pioneering Contributions to the Theory and Application of Wavelets and Filter Banks."
In 2012, King Albert of Belgium awarded her the title of Baroness.
future
The legacy of these women is not always recognized in the most obvious way.
Even as the number of women in STEM and STEAM continues to increase, it's important to acknowledge those who pave the way.
The significant impact of their research and findings is reflected in the technologies we use every day and in the invisible systems that connect our world.