The National Museum of Computing has opened a gallery celebrating the role of women in computer history. Sponsored by Google, it documents the important role women have played in building and programming pioneering computers.
The idea for the gallery arose when the Museum found that only 10% of students on its educational courses were women. It is hoped that the gallery will help to inspire more young women and girls to take up a job in the computer world.
"Girls must take advantage of the revival of computing in schools and recognise and grab the opportunities that our wonderful sector offers," said Dame Stephanie Shirley at the opening ceremony for the gallery.
The Museum is sited in the grounds of Bletchley Park, the wartime code-cracking centre.
On show at the gallery are contributions from Joyce Wheeler, one of the first academics to use the Edsac computer; Mary Coombs, the first female programmer for the Lyons Electronic Office and Kathleen Booth, an academic who wrote the first book about programming in Assembly language.