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The First Woman to Get a Ph.D. In Computer Science from MIT (2014) (theatlantic.com)
47 points by Cozumel on July 3, 2017 | hide | past | favorite | 6 comments



This title seems to imply something pretty bad about MIT and gender diversity. This feels like a good argument for putting the date on older articles in square brackets rather than parens. Brackets are commonly used for editorializing quotes (which titles most often are on HN) and thus might be less confusing in cases like this.


MIT - ten years behind some other places in this regard, e.g., https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Kenneth_Keller


As far as I can tell, MIT didn't have a CS department until 1975 (when it was added to the EE department to become EECS; the same year Irene Greif in the OP got her PhD).

Before the 70s, many schools considered CS as part of a Math degree or an EE degree.

Cite: https://www.eecs.mit.edu/about-us/mit-eecs-department-facts


Why is it MIT that's behind? Is it MIT's fault they they haven't awarded any to female students?


I dont think you can fault MIT here. The first MIT CS degree was awarded in 1975 the same year that saw the first female MIT CS degree awarded.

https://www.eecs.mit.edu/about-us/mit-eecs-department-facts


Fun fact: The percentage of students in CS that are female is half of what it was in the mid 80s. All this hubbub is there to disguise the fact that as soon as comp sci stopped being necessary to do useful things with computers, women left in droves.




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