Mary Kenneth Keller

Mary Kenneth Keller, B.V.M.
Born ca. 1913
Ohio, United States
Died January 10, 1985
Dubuque, Iowa, United States
Residence Dubuque, Iowa, United States
Institutions Clarke University
Education Dartmouth College
Alma mater DePaul University, University of Wisconsin–Madison
Thesis Inductive Inference on Computer Generated Patterns.
Known for BASIC

Mary Kenneth Keller, B.V.M. (c. 1913 – January 10, 1985) was an American religious sister, educator and pioneer in computer science. On June 7, 1965[1][2][3] she, along with Irving Tang at Washington University, became the first people in the United States to earn a doctorate in that field.

Keller earned her degree from the University of Wisconsin–Madison.[4][5][6] Her thesis was titled Inductive Inference on Computer Generated Patterns.[6]

Life

Born in Ohio about 1913, Keller entered the Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in 1932[7][8] and took her vows with that religious congregation in 1940.[7][9] Later she earned a Bachelor of Science degree in mathematics (1943) and a masters degree in mathematics and physics (1953) from DePaul University.

In 1958, Keller began working at the National Science Foundation[10] workshop in the computer science center at Dartmouth College, a male-only institution at the time, where she participated in the development of the BASIC programming language.[7][11]

Keller believed in the potential for computers to increase access to information and promote education.[12] In 1965, after earning her doctorate, Keller founded the computer science department at Clarke College in Iowa, which she directed for twenty years.[13] Clarke College now has the Keller Computer Center and Information Services, which is named after her and which provides computing and telecommunication support to Clarke College students, faculty members, and staff.[14] The college has also established the Mary Kenneth Keller Computer Science Scholarship in her honor.[15]

Keller was an advocate for the involvement of women in computing,[7] and helped to establish the Association of Small Computer Users in Education (ASCUE).<ref name=Annals /[16] She went on to write four books in the field.[17]

Keller died on January 10, 1985, at the age of 71.[18]

Bibliography

References

  1. ↑ "Wisconsin State Journal, June 8, 1965".
  2. ↑ "Capital Times". Retrieved September 19, 2015.
  3. ↑ "104th Commencement, Washington University" (PDF). Washington University Libraries. Retrieved August 31, 2015.
  4. ↑ London, Ralph L. (15 January 2013). "Who Earned First Computer Science Ph.D.?". Communications of the ACM (blog). Retrieved 1 August 2014.
  5. ↑ Steel, Martha Vickers (11 December 2011), Women in computing: experiences and contributions within the emerging computing industry (PDF) (CSIS 550 History of Computing – Research Paper), archived from the original (PDF) on 23 November 2011, retrieved 1 August 2014
  6. 1 2 "UW-Madison Computer Science Ph.D.s Awarded, May 1965 - August 1970". Department of Computer Sciences, University of Wisconsin-Madison. Retrieved 2015-08-28., PhDs granted at UW-Madison Computer Sciences Department.
  7. 1 2 3 4 Gürer, Denise (June 2002). "Pioneering Women in Computer Science" (PDF). Communications of the ACM 38 (1): 45–54. doi:10.1145/204865.204875.
  8. ↑ Crezo, Adrienne (October 14, 2013). "First Female Ph.D in Computer Science Was a Nun". Real Clear Science. Retrieved 28 March 2015.
  9. ↑ "CS Prof From Iowa Was a 'Heroine of Computing' -- and a Nun". May 25, 2014.
  10. ↑ "Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary - BVM News". www.bvmcong.org. Retrieved 2015-10-14.
  11. ↑ London, Ralph L. "Additional Information for "Who Earned First Computer Science PhD?"" (PDF). Retrieved 28 March 2015.
  12. ↑ "Sister Mary Kenneth Keller". The Ada Project: Pioneering Women in Computing Technology. Retrieved 2014-11-09.
  13. ↑ About - National Women's History Museum - NWHM
  14. ↑ Computer Center : Clarke University
  15. ↑ Mary Kenneth Keller Computer Science Scholarship - Clarke University Scholarships
  16. ↑ "Brief Obituary for Sister Mary Kenneth Keller". Annals of the History of Computing 8 (2): 194. 1986. Retrieved 28 March 2015.
  17. ↑ Keller, Mary Kenneth - Encyclopedia Dubuque
  18. ↑
  19. ↑ "Computer Graphics and Applications of Matrix Methods: Three Dimensional Computer Graphics and Projections (UMAP) Sister Mary K. Keller". Retrieved 28 March 2015.
  20. ↑ "Electrical Circuits and Applications of Matrix Methods: Analysis of Linear Circuits (UMAP) Sister Mary K. Keller". Retrieved 28 March 2015.
  21. ↑ "Food Service Management and Applications of Matrix Methods: Food Service and Dietary Requirements (UMAP) Sister Mary K. Keller". Retrieved 28 March 2015.
  22. ↑ "Markov Chains and Applications of Matrix Methods: Fixed Point and Absorbing Markov Chains (UMAP) Sister Mary K. Keller". Retrieved 28 March 2015.
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