Eleanor Krawitz Kolchin facts for kids

Eleanor Krawitz Kolchin (1927 - January 25, 2019) was an American mathematician, computer programmer, author, and teacher. She worked at Watson Scientific Computing Laboratory at Columbia University to calculate the orbit of planets, phases of the moon, and trajectories of asteroids using IBM tabulating machines. Her calculations were used in the Apollo program.

Education

Eleanor attended Samuel J. Tilden High School where she took an interest in Euclidean geometry and graduated in 1943. She earned her B.A. in mathematics at Brooklyn College in January 1947. While there, she served as treasurer for Pi Mu Epsilon, the national mathematics honor society. After graduating, she applied and was accepted to Columbia University, where she took classes towards her master's degree in mathematics.

Professional work

After high school, Eleanor took a job as a substitute teacher at the high school level at Midwood High School and later at her alma mater, Tilden High.

In 1947, Kolchin was hired to work at IBM’s Thomas J. Watson Computing Laboratory at Columbia University. She was hired along with one woman and three men to take on a project at the Watson Laboratory operating tabulating machines for astrophysics. She simultaneously pursued a master's degree in Mathematics at Columbia while working in the laboratory.

Kolchin was tabulating supervisor in the laboratory and taught in Columbia's astronomy department.

She was the first woman to contribute to Columbia Engineering Quarterly.

In 1949, she published an article describing the Watson Lab’s work. It has since been translated into over 20 languages.

Recognition

In 2014, she was presented The National Center for Women & Information Technology's Pioneer Award.