February 1996 marks the 50th Anniversary of the ENIAC computer at the Moore School of the University of Pennsylvania. The Association for Computing Machinery has marked this month as the birthday of modern computing, and the start of its own 50th Anniversary year. Our chapter will be commemorating this event with a panel session featuring some of the women who worked on the ENIAC in its early days.

During the 1940s, as a part of the war effort, many women civilians worked as ``computers'' -- mathematicians who computed missile trajectories. Some of these women were redeployed to the ENIAC project, to assist in its programming. In later years, the key roles of these women were downplayed, and their efforts nearly faded into history. The women on our panel will discuss how they got their jobs, their work, reminiscences of the project and their co-workers (both male and female), and their lives and careers after ENIAC. A slide show will accompany the session.

Panelists are expected to include ENIAC pioneers: Cathlene (Mauchly) Antonelli, Jean Bartik and Kathe Jacoby. The discussion will be led by our chapter chair, Rebecca Mercuri.

A pre-meeting dinner with the speaker is held at 6 p.m. at the Rusty Scupper, 378 Alexander Road, Princeton. If you would like to attend, please call (609) 924-8704 and record your reservation on the answering machine.

All ACM / IEEE-CS meeting are open to the public. Students and their parents are welcome. There is no admission charge, and refreshments are served after the meeting.