The forty-ninth Math Webinar in English took place on Wednesday, July 9th, 2025 from 5 pm until 6 pm with Jenna Carpenter, Founding Dean and Professor of Engineering at Campbell University and President of the Mathematical Association of America (MAA), as our invited speaker. This virtual event was free and open to the general public.
In this forty-ninth Math Webinar in English, Jenna Carpenter presented on “Top Secret: Women’s Contributions to the History of Computing.” The speaker started the virtual event by mentioning about Ada Lovelace and then shared about human computers, who were all women who had strong mathematical skills. Jenna Carpenter described the important role that these women played in World War II, as well as the contributions of women in the development of space travel. The speaker highlighted that unfortunately women have not regained the central position they held in the world of computing at the end of World War II, even though there are various programs that exist around the globe to encourage girls to study these careers. Jenna Carpenter also invited the participants to explore the website https://topsecretrosies.com. This virtual event was co-organized by the Mathematical Association of America (MAA).
