Women in Technology

Technology - International Women's Day

Multiple Choice

Cristeta Pasia Comerford ( 1962-) is a Filipino-American chef who was the first woman and first person of Asian origin to be what?

• Head chef of a Michelin-starred restaurant in the Phillippines

• Host of her own cooking show on BBC One

• White House Executive Chef

• Owner of a restaurant business with 500+ restaurants around the globe

White House Executive Chef

Comerford was appointed White House executive chef by First Lady Laura Bush in 2005, after she handled a large dinner that was held in honor of Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh very well. She has held this post until now as the Obama, Trump and Biden administrations have all retained her as head chef.

Multiple Choice

Which woman invented the common household item: the dishwasher?

• Josephine Cochrane

• Grace Hopper

• Elizabeth Magie

• Mary Anderson

Josephine Cochrane

Cochrane's design was the first that used water pressure rather than scrubbers to remove debris. In 1886, she designed it in the shed behind her home

Multiple Choice

Who wrote the first computer algorithm?

• Jenny Andrews

• Ada Lovelace

• Mary Smith

• Sarah Anderson

Ada Lovelace

Lovelace translated a piece of work by a mathematics professor. However when translating, she added her own notes to the work which wrote the world’s first computer algorithm. 

Multiple Choice

In which year did Alice H. Parker designed central heating?

• 1917

• 1918

• 1919

• 1920

1919

Parker’s design helped heat homes without the use of wood but instead with the use of natural gas. 

Multiple Choice

In which year did Hedy Lamarr invented Wireless transmission technology?

• 1940

• 1941

• 1942

• 1943

Hedy Lamarr

During World War II, Lamarr was an actress. She created a communication system. This wireless transmission technology helped contribute to the works of the present day’s WiFi, GPS, and Bluetooth.

Multiple Choice

In 2007, who became Britain’s first female chef to run a restaurant with three Michelin stars?

• Clare Smyth

• Nadia Turner

• Julia Child

• Rachael Ray

Clare Smyth

In 2007, she was announced as the new head chef of Restaurant Gordon Ramsay, becoming the first female chef in the UK to run a restaurant with three Michelin stars. Of the 121 British Michelin-starred restaurants at the time of her appointment, only seven had female head chefs. In 2021, she also became first British woman to have her own restaurant (Core) awarded three Michelin stars.

Multiple Choice

In 1969, what type of protection service did Marie Van Brittan Brown introduce to New York City by using materials from a closed-circuit television?

• Home Security System

• Security Cameras

• Recording Device

• Doorbell

Home Security System

When Police in NYC were slow to answer calls in Brown’s neighbourhood, she decided to take matters in this situation by creating her own security system. 

Multiple Choice

Which inventor created Space Station Batteries which helps keep the International Space Station on when rotating?

• Rachel Zimmerman

• Tracy Smith

• Olga Gonzalez-Sanabria

• Sally Fox

Olga Gonzalez-Sanabria

Gonzalez-Sanabria, a Puerto Rican scientist and investor, is the highest-ranking Hispanic at NASA Glenn Research Centre.

Multiple Choice

Which African American invented Caller ID and call waiting?

• Patricia Bath

• Patsy O’Connell

• Barbra Askins

• Dr Shirley Ann Jackson

Dr Shirley Ann Jackson

Dr Shirley Ann Jackson is the first African-American woman to hold a PhD from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the first African-American woman to lead a top-ranked research university. She is also the second African-American woman in the United States to earn a doctorate in physics.

Multiple Choice

Mary Kenneth Keller was the first woman to receive a PhD in which technology-based subject?

• Computer Science

• Aerospace Engineering

• Mathematics

• Electrical Engineering

Computer Science

Mary Kenneth Keller (1913-1985) was an American Roman Catholic religious sister, educator and pioneer in computer science. She earned her PhD from the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 1965. 

Multiple Choice

Grace Brewster Murray Hopper (1906-1992) was a computer pioneer and naval officer best known for her trailblazing contributions to computer programming. Which software term was she associated with?

• V-model

• Function Prototype

• Software bug

• GUI designer (Graphical User Interface Builder)

Software Bug

In 1946, Hopper worked at the Harvard Faculty at the Computation Laboratory. Operators traced an error in the Mark II to a moth trapped in a relay, coining the term bug. This bug was carefully removed and taped to the log book. Stemming from the first bug, today we call errors or glitches in a program a bug. This was the first actual case of a bug being found.