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Top Secret Rosies: The Female Computers of WWII DVD

$24.99 $17.99
Item #: WC4612
In 1942 a secret U.S. military program was launched to recruit women to the war effort. But unlike the efforts to recruit Rosie the Riveter to the factory, this clandestine search targeted female mathematicians who would become human 'computers' for the U.S. Army. From the bombing of Axis Europe to the assaults on Japanese strongholds, women worked around-t... ... More
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In 1942 a secret U.S. military program was launched to recruit women to the war effort. But unlike the efforts to recruit Rosie the Riveter to the factory, this clandestine search targeted female mathematicians who would become human 'computers' for the U.S. Army. From the bombing of Axis Europe to the assaults on Japanese strongholds, women worked around-the-clock six days a week, creating ballistics tables that proved crucial to Allied success. Rosie made the weapons, but the female computers made them accurate. When the first electronic computer (ENIAC) was developed to aid the Army's calculation efforts, six of these women were tapped to become its first programmers.

Top Secret Rosies is the as-yet-untold story of women and technology that helped win a war and usher in the modern computer age. This is the chronicle of four very different women who worked as human computers at the University of Pennsylvania from 1942-1946. Capturing the opportunities and exhilaration of the times and exploring the moral dilemmas inherent in their work, Top Secret Rosies follows their efforts as they labored night and day to create the mathematical computations that made every Allied bomb and bullet more deadly.

Bonus Feature - Meet the documentary subjects in the film's trailer.

Producer: LeAnn Erickson
Production Year: 2010
Director: LeAnn Erickson
Narrator: LeAnn Erickson
Discs: 1
Subtitle Language: English (SDH)
Audio Format: Stereo
Aspect Ratio: 16x9 Widescreen


Highlighted Customer Reviews


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FRH
Review by Frh review stating FRH
Great! Hight recommend it.
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Iowa U. reviewed Top Secret Rosies: The Female Computers of WWII DVD
5.0 star rating
Must-see documentary
Review by Iowa U. review stating Must-see documentary
This is a great documentary which brings to light the experiences of 4 ordinary women who had mathematical talent, the education, and the I-can-do-it attitude which contributed extraordinarily to the war effort and to the development of electronic computers. LeAnn Erickson did a wonderful job of finding and editing never before shown archival material about the womens lives as well as wartime footage and early computers.
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Stephanie reviewed Top Secret Rosies: The Female Computers of WWII DVD
5.0 star rating
Great History!
Review by Stephanie review stating Great History!
I am a female mathematician and mechanical engineer. Females think that they cant do these jobs better than men, so they dont try. Its nice to see that people are finally giving credit to women in technical fields so that more of us can feel worthy to make significant breakthroughs.

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