Frances Spence: One of the First Computer Programmers In History

Written by Lahari Thota

Numbers had always circled throughout young Frances Bilas’ life, but little did she know just how much of a role they would play later as she became one of the first computer programmers and a talented mathematician and physicist.

Frances Spence was born as Frances Bilas in 1922, in Philadelphia to caring parents and a sibling. Later, she would become the second oldest out of 5 siblings. Her father was a gifted engineer for the Philadelphia School district and her mother was a respected elementary teacher who left her job temporarily to take care of her children. Frances was a well-educated young lady who graduated from the South Philadelphia High School for Girls in 1938 and enrolled in Temple University. While studying, she was awarded with an honorable scholarship to Chestnut Hill College which she decided to commit to. Frances had always been interested in mathematics and physics and pursued them as her major in college. It was there she would go on to meet Kathleen McNulty, a fellow math major. From there, their historic friendship would only develop into a journey of accomplishments and triumph, especially for other aspiring women in STEM.

While in college, Frances started teaching at the Simon Gratz High School and desired to become a math teacher. But shortly after graduating college in 1942, Kathleen and Frances were hired by the army to work at the Moore School of Engineering and later on the ENIAC. The US Army was hiring women to calculate ballistic trajectories during World War II when the men were fighting in a gruesome war. They funded the Moore School at UPENN during the war and it was there that 80% of women worked, manually and painstakingly calculating ballistic trajectories otherwise known as complex differential equations. These intelligent women were christened as the “computers.” 6 of the “computers” were selected by the army to participate in an experimental project to program an all-electronic digital computer in 1945, including Frances.

Kathleen Mcnulty shortly after graduating from college

The ENIAC was a huge all-electronic digital computer and the first of its kind. It was comprised of 40 black panels reaching 8 feet in length and to make matters worse for the programmers, they had no access to the tools we have today. It proved to be quite a challenge to make the ENIAC function. The programmers had to physically conduct the ballistic program utilizing dozens of switches and trays, and over 3000 switches to route program pulses and data throughout the computer.  Complex analog technology was used to calculate the equations needed and the ENIAC was considered highly classified. It was one year after the program started in 1945 that the ENIAC was finally revealed to the public. The talented women who programmed it were also the only generation of programmers to work on it.

While in Moore, Frances met Homer Spence, a kind-hearted soldier who served as an electrical engineer for the ENIAC. They quickly grew to love each other and married in 1947. Soon, the ENIAC was moved to Aberdeen Proving Grounds and Homer became the Chief of the Computer Science Research Program. Later after giving birth to her sons, Frances and her husband took jobs in NY where the former raised her sons and worked part-time in computing. 

The ENIAC

Despite being responsible for the ENIAC functioning, the six programmers received little recognition at a time when males dominated the computer science and engineering fields. However, Frances was able to be commended for her contributions in 1997 when she was inducted into the Women in Technology International Hall of Fame. Although the talented programmer passed away in 2012 with her best friend Kathleen, she will remain famous for her incredible achievements in the field of computer programming.

Sources

"Frances Spence." ETHW, 25 Jan. 2016, ethw.org/Frances_Spence.

Weckerly, Dan. "When STEM for Girls Wasn't Even a Twig, This Female Chestnut Hill Grad Taught an Early Computer to Think." MONTCO.Today, 19 Aug. 2022, montco.today/2022/08/fran-bilas-eniac-programming/.