Accounting, explained in its simplest form, is maximizing efficiency in financial management. By measuring financial data correctly, and subsequently interpreting it with a clear purpose, society is far better off in every facet; people waste less time & energy, have more resources to achieve their goals, and can better plan their future. That being the case, the technology that accountants use to perform their job should be as efficient as possible. The development of efficient technology effects not only our industry, but practically everyone working and living in the modern world. For Women’s History Month 2025, Bowman & Company LLP explores and celebrates the innovative achievements of some brilliant women in the world of computing, mathematics, and technology. These individuals have impacted the way that people utilize the machines that accountants use every day.
Long before the first computer was built, mathematicians in the 19th century had conceptualized the idea. On nothing but paper, British mathematician Charles Babbage designed the precursor to the calculator, the “Difference Engine”. His friend and colleague, Ada Lovelace, helped translate papers on his concept between French and English. In the process of doing so, she created annotations that would instruct the potential operator how to perform sequences of calculations using the device. In essence, Lovelace wrote the first computer programs before the construction of the computer even began; all at the age of 27. Her extensive knowledge of mathematics, coupled with her linguistic studies, allowed for the dissemination of groundbreaking discovery between academic circles across the western world. The concepts invented by Ada Lovelace molded the future of how computers should functionally be operated, and for far more complex purposes than originally conceptualized. She envisioned a future where computers could be used to perform tasks beyond pure calculation and even wrote about its potential application for the creation of music. Lovelace knew this machine had potential to perform functions on numbers in the abstract sense. In the words of historian Doron Swade, Lovelace’s insight marked “the fundamental transition from calculation to computation” in the field of technology.
101 years after Ada Lovelace’s contributions to the Difference Engine, the world was a much different place. In the height of World War II, Allied military mathematicians and engineers were hard at work on a revolutionary invention. Miraculously, their efforts resulted in the ultimate tool of military intelligence, turning the tides of war and saving millions of lives: the modern computer. One of the most influential inventors of the modern computing age was Admiral Grace Murray Hopper. She had taken the theory of programming language and developed it into reality for one of the earliest computers, Harvard University’s “Mark I”. She created the compiler known as COBOL, which takes inputs from the English language and converts them into computational actions within the machine. In fact, the term “compiler” is credited to Hopper. Her developments to computer programming not only benefitted our military, but throughout all commercially accessible computers today. Hopper retired from service with the rank of Rear Admiral, was a professor at Vassar College, worked for numerous technology companies, and received numerous awards including a National Medal of Technology and the Presidential Medal of Freedom. She is the namesake of a US Naval Destroyer (the active service USS Hopper), Hopper College at Yale University, as well as the annual conference, the “Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing”.
Bowman & Company LLP is grateful for the wonderful women who contribute to our success. It is imperative to encourage, accept, and support women in all fields; professional, mathematical, scientific, technological, and beyond.
References
- Biography: “Grace Hopper” – https://www.biography.com/scientist/grace-hopper
- Britannica: “Ada Lovelace: The First Computer Programmer” – https://www.britannica.com/story/ada-lovelace-the-first-computer-programmer
- Britannica: “Grace Hopper” – https://www.britannica.com/biography/Grace-Hopper
- IEEE Xplore, Annals of the History of Computing: “Lovelace & Babbage and the creation of the 1843 ‘notes’” – https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/1253887