Lynn Conway

Lynn Ann Conway (born January 2, 1938)[3][4] is an American computer scientist, electrical engineer, inventor, and transgender activist.[5]

Lynn Conway
Lynn Conway July 2006.jpg
Conway in 2006
Born (1938-01-02) January 2, 1938 (age 86)
NationalityAmerican
Alma materColumbia University
Known forMead & Conway revolution, transgender activism
Awards
Scientific career
FieldsComputer science
Electrical engineering
InstitutionsIBM Advanced Computing Systems (1964–68), Memorex, Xerox PARC (1970s), DARPA, University of Michigan
Influences

She worked at IBM in the 1960s. She is known for her invention of generalized dynamic instruction handling. She is also widely-known for the Mead & Conway revolution.[6][7][8][9][10]

Born a male, Conway transitioned into a woman.[11] After IBM found out about this, she was fired in 1968. In 2020, IBM apologized for firing Conway.[12]

References

  1. Saari, Peggy; Allison, Stephen; Ellavich, Marie C. (1996). Scientists: A-F. U-X-L. ISBN 978-0-7876-0960-3.
  2. "CHM 2014 Fellow "For her work in developing and disseminating new methods of integrated circuit design"". Computerhistory.org. Archived from the original on July 3, 2016. Retrieved April 10, 2018.
  3. Lee, John A. N. (1995). International Biographical Dictionary of Computer Pioneers. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 1-884964-47-8.
  4. "Computer Pioneers - Lynn Conway". IEEE. Archived from the original on November 10, 2014. Retrieved November 10, 2014.
  5. "21 Transgender People Who Influenced American Culture". Time Magazine. May 29, 2014.
  6. "Lynn Conway: 2009 Computer Pioneer Award Recipient" Archived January 3, 2015, at the Wayback Machine, IEEE Computer Society, January 20, 2010.
  7. "IEEE Computer Society Video: Lynn Conway receives 2009 IEEE Computer Society Computer Pioneer Award" at YouTube, July 30, 2010.
  8. "Event: IBM ACS System: A Pioneering Supercomputer Project of the 1960s", Computer History Museum, February 18, 2010.
  9. "Computer History Museum Events: IBM ACS System: A Pioneering Supercomputer Project of the 1960s" Archived September 28, 2012, at the Wayback Machine, Computer History Museum, February 18, 2010.
  10. "Historical Reflections: IBM's Single-Processor Supercomputer Efforts – Insights on the pioneering IBM Stretch and ACS projects" by M. Smotherman and D. Spicer, Communications of the ACM, Vol. 53, No. 12, December 2010, pp. 28–30.
  11. Conway, Lynn (2012). "Reminiscences of the VLSI revolution: How a series of failures triggered a paradigm shift in digital design" (PDF). IEEE Solid-State Circuits Magazine. IEEE. 4 (4): 8–31. doi:10.1109/MSSC.2012.2215752. ISSN 1943-0582. S2CID 9286356.
  12. Alicandri, Jeremy. "IBM Apologizes For Firing Computer Pioneer For Being Transgender...52 Years Later". Forbes.