My Computer Science Greatest Superheroes

JoyBuolamwini

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Joy Buolamwini

Birth: 1989
Death: N/A

Major Academic Events: She holds two master's degrees from Oxford University and MIT: and a bachelor's degree in Computer Science from the Georgia Institute of Technology. Her research found biased results amongst one of biggest companies in the world.

Contributions to Computer Science: The results show that more dark-skinned human faces were unrecognized compared to the lighter skinned ones. She founded the Algorithmic Justice League to create a world with more equitable and accountable technology. Her MIT thesis methodology uncovered large racial and gender bias in AI services from companies like Microsoft, IBM, and Amazon.

Sources: Joy Buolamwini overview with listed accomplishments: https://www.media.mit.edu/people/joyab/overview

Joy Buolamwini's impact on the community: https://www.wnyc.org/story/joy-buolamwini-how-do-biased-algorithms-damage-marginalized-communities

Joy Buolamwini's website: https://www.poetofcode.com/








Hedy Lamarr

Birth: Nov 9, 1914
Death: Jan 19, 2000

Major Academic Events: It was in 1997, when she was honored with the special award for "trail-blazing development of a technology that has become a key component of wireless data systems. She was the one who invented the frequency hopping technology which is more commonly known as " Wi-Fi " today!

Contributions to Computer Science: She developed an early technique for spread spectrum communications and frequency hopping, which helped combat the Nazis in World War II. Hedy had help with all of this from her co-inventor George Anthiel.It was in 1997, when she was honored with the special award for "trail-blazing development of a technology that has become a key component of wireless data systems. Although she died in 2000, Lamarr was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame for the development of her frequency hopping technology in 2014

Sources: The accomplishments and impact of Hedy Lamarr https://blogs.oregonstate.edu/rebeccakilian/2016/04/14/the-accomplishments-of-hedy-lama

Hedy Lamarr's Biographyhttps://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/hedy-lamarr

Hedy Lamarr the Hollywood Starlet https://www.history.co.uk/article/the-life-of-hedy-lamarr-history%25E2%2580%2599s-forgotten-hollywood-genius







Tim Berners-Lee

Birth: June 8, 1955

Major Academic Events: He attended college at Oxford University at Queen’s College where he earned his first class degree in physics in 1976.

Contributions to Computer Science: His biggest contribution to the field of computer science was the invention of the world wide web in 1989. He also created the first web web client and server in 1990. Another contribution was Timothy, with the help of Vinton Cerf, created the first commercial internet “email” system. Through this, messages could be sent to anyone with an email address.

Sources: A HTML website about Tim Berners-Lee, https://www.w3.org/People/Berners-Lee/.

A Tim Berners-Lee Article https://www.famousscientists.org/timothy-john-berners-lee/

A Tim Berners-Lee Biography https://www.internethalloffame.org/official-biography-tim-berners-lee/