Day 4 - 260 -- Working with Numbers

The day moved forward well with a mix of work and leisure. Further slides were prepared for classes this week and reading done for work projects. I watched two movies that had been on my 'watch' list for a year or more -- Brooklyn and Hidden Figures. I enjoyed both, but will admit to feeling more strongly about the latter. Both movies followed the lives of young women as they took life paths that showed their strength. Each involved women working with numbers -- as a book-keeper wanting to be an accountant in Brooklyn and in high level mathematics and engineering in the aerospace industry in Hidden Figures. The women in the movies were from cultural backgrounds that brought with them prejudice -- Irish immigrants and African Americans. I found Brooklyn a believable fiction. Hidden Figures told a true story of women working as 'computers' in the early days of the US Space Program. During this part of the 1960s, electronic computers (from IBM in this case) took over the work of these women. Yet, one had seen the potential for this change, and had trained herself and others in the early programming language Fortran, so jobs were transferred to the new unit.

I found the story of female mathematicians enthralling. I have three degrees and none of them are in math, stats or computer science <smile>. I admire people who can do that type of work with ease. Fighting for recognition and equality showed these female pioneers blazing trails for all the women that have come after them. As stated by one of the characters, someone has to be first. It was an uplifting story without belabouring the many difficulties of African Americans in the 1960s. Segregation was covered with one woman going to court to receive permission to attend evening classes in a segregated school -- Virginia maintained its segregation laws despite opposing federal laws and Supreme Court rulings. The difficulty of working as the first person of colour in one work section was emphasized by the lengthy trip taken by the woman to get to a bathroom that wasn't 'whites only.' It was a very long trip to the other side of the NASA campus. As other stories covered in movies, such as the code breakers in the UK during WWII, it is disappointing that it took so long to move the story into the public sphere. There are many social reasons that could explain these delays, but I find it disturbing nonetheless.

A song about math seemed fitting today, though I couldn't find a cover done by a woman. The lyrics are the key point here, though. This is an unexpected version by a Scottish actor known to many for one or more of his acting projects.  Enjoy!

I am the very model of a modern major general -- David Tennant