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HandWiki. Computer (Job Description). Encyclopedia. Available online: https://encyclopedia.pub/entry/32171 (accessed on 15 October 2026).
HandWiki. Computer (Job Description). Encyclopedia. Available at: https://encyclopedia.pub/entry/32171. Accessed October 15, 2026.
HandWiki. "Computer (Job Description)" Encyclopedia, https://encyclopedia.pub/entry/32171 (accessed October 15, 2026).
HandWiki. (2022, November 01). Computer (Job Description). In Encyclopedia. https://encyclopedia.pub/entry/32171
HandWiki. "Computer (Job Description)." Encyclopedia. Web. 01 November, 2022.
Computer (Job Description)
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The content is sourced from: https://handwiki.org/wiki/Computer_(job_description)

The term "computer", in use from the early 17th century (the first known written reference dates from 1613), meant "one who computes": a person performing mathematical calculations, before electronic computers became commercially available. Alan Turing described the "human computer" as someone who is "supposed to be following fixed rules; he has no authority to deviate from them in any detail." Teams of people, often women from the late nineteenth century onwards, were used to undertake long and often tedious calculations; the work was divided so that this could be done in parallel. The same calculations were frequently performed independently by separate teams to check the correctness of the results. Since the end of the 20th century, the term "human computer" has also been applied to individuals with prodigious powers of mental arithmetic, also known as mental calculators.

computer computers calculators

References

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  16. Sobel 2016, p. 31.
  17. Sobel 2016, p. 105.
  18. Evans 2018, p. 23.
  19. Sobel 2016, p. 37.
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  29. Beenakker, C.. "Lorentz and the Zuiderzee Project". Instituut-Lorenz for Theoretical Physics, University of Leiden. https://www.lorentz.leidenuniv.nl/history/zuiderzee/zuiderzee.html. 
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  31. Roache 1998.
  32. Grier, David Alan (March 1, 2001). "Human Computers: The First Pioneers of the Information Age". Endeavour 25 (1): 28-32. doi:10.1016/S0160-9327(00)01338-7.  https://dx.doi.org/10.1016%2FS0160-9327%2800%2901338-7
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  34. Kean 2010, p. 10.
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  40. Howell, Elizabeth (January 24, 2017). "The Story of NASA's Real 'Hidden Figures'". https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-story-of-nasas-real-ldquo-hidden-figures-rdquo/. 
  41. Evans 2018, pp. 24.
  42. "DOROTHY VAUGHAN (nee JOHNSON)". NASA. http://crgis.ndc.nasa.gov/crgis/images/2/29/VaughanBio.pdf. 
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  45. ENIAC Programmers Project – Awards http://www.eniacprogrammers.org/awards.shtml
  46. Law & von Ahn 2011.
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