Anita Borg

Computer Scientist

Anita Borg was born in Chicago, Illinois, United States on January 17th, 1949 and is the Computer Scientist. At the age of 54, Anita Borg biography, profession, age, height, weight, eye color, hair color, build, measurements, education, career, dating/affair, family, news updates, and networth are available.

Date of Birth
January 17, 1949
Nationality
United States
Place of Birth
Chicago, Illinois, United States
Death Date
Apr 6, 2003 (age 54)
Zodiac Sign
Capricorn
Profession
Computer Scientist, Engineer
Anita Borg Height, Weight, Eye Color and Hair Color

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Anita Borg Religion, Education, and Hobbies
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Education
New York University (PhD)
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Anita Borg Life

Anita Borg (January 17, 1949 – April 6, 2003) was an American computer scientist.

She founded the Institute for Women and Technology and the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing.

Education and early life

In Chicago, Illinois, Borg was born Anita Borg Naffz. She grew up in Palatine, Illinois; Kaneohe, Hawaii; and Mukilteo, Washington. In 1969, Borg began programming. Although she loved math growing up, she didn't set out to pursue computer science and learned how to program while working at a small insurance company. In 1981, she was awarded a Doctorate in Computer Science by New York University for analyzing the synchronization of operating systems managed by Robert Dewar and Gerald Belpaire.

On April 6, 2003, she died of brain cancer in Sonoma, California.

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Anita Borg Career

Career

Borg spent four years designing a fault-tolerant Unix-based operating system, first for Auragen Systems Corp. of New Jersey and then with Nixdorf Computer in Germany, after receiving her PhD.

She began working with Digital Equipment Corporation in 1986, first at the Western Research Laboratory, where she spent 12 years. She invented and patented a method for generating complete address traces for analyzing and designing high-speed memory systems while at Digital Equipment. Her experience with the ever-expanding Systers mailing list, which she started in 1987, led her to work in email communications. MECCA, an email and Web-based platform for networking in virtual communities, was developed by an engineer with Brian Reid in the Network Systems Laboratory.

In 1997, Borg left Digital Equipment Corporation and began as a researcher in the Office of the Chief Technology Officer at Xerox PARC. She founded the Institute for Women and Technology in 1995, just after starting at Xerox, and she's also founded the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing.

Borg has long believed in greater representation of technological women in the workplace. By 2020, her aim was to have a 50% representation of women in computing. She aimed for technology-based industries to be places where women are equally represented at all levels of the pipeline, and where women could influence and profit from technology.

Borg founded Systers, the first email network for women in technology, in 1987. She was struck by how few women were at the conference when attending the Symposium on Operating Systems Principles (SOSP). In the ladies' room, she and six or seven others discussed how few women were in computing. A dozen of the women at the conference made plans to eat lunch together, and that's where the idea for Systers was born.

Systers was established to provide members with a private space to request and share tips based on their shared experiences. Systers membership was limited to women with extensive technical training, and discussions were strictly limited to scientific problems. Borg did not govern Systers until 2000, but not before. Systers occasionally addressed topics that were not particularly scientific, but the company's members were concerned. The voices of resistance that began with the Systers list in 1992, when Mattel Inc. began selling a Barbie doll that said math class is difficult, played a role in Mattel's decision to ban the word from Barbie's microchip.

Anita Borg and Telle Whitney established the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing in 1994. Borg and Whitney met over dinner with a blank sheet of paper, had no idea how to begin a meeting, and started to map out their vision, with the initial goal of establishing a conference for women computer scientists. In June 1994, the first Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing was held in Washington, D.C., and brought together 500 technical women.

In 1997, Borg founded the Institute for Women and Technology (now the Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology). Two of the organization's key objectives, which included increasing representation of women in science and encouraging the development of more technologies by women, were two key goals. Although the center was an independent non-profit group, it was located in Xerox PARC when it was established. The institute was established to be an experimental R&D group focusing on increasing the impact of women on technology and increasing the impact of technology on women around the world. It was part of a variety of initiatives to promote technology, develop the pipeline of technical women, and ensure that women's voices were influenced by technological advancements.

Telle Whitney was elected president and CEO of the institute in 2002, and the institute's in 2003 was renamed in honor of Borg. Since its inception, the Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology has expanded its services in the United States and expanded internationally, more than tripling in size.

Borg was praised for her contributions as a computer scientist as well as her advocacy for women in computing. In 1995, she was given the Augusta Ada Lovelace Award by the Association for Women in Computing for her role in the field of computing. In 1996, she was accepted as a Fellow of the Association for Computing Machinery. President Bill Clinton appointed her to the Presidential Commission on the Advancement of Women and Minorities in Science, Engineering, and Technology in 1999. She was charged with recommending that the breadth of participation fields for women be expanded around the country.

She was given the 8th Annual Heinz Award for Technology, the Economy, and Labor in 2002. Borg received an Honorary Doctor of Science and Technology degree from Carnegie Mellon University in 2002.

The EFF Pioneer Award from the Electronic Frontier Foundation was given to Borg by the Girl Scouts of the United States, as well as a Top 100 Women in Computing from Open Computing Magazine's Top 100 Women in Computing. Borg was also a member of the Computing Research Association's board of directors and served as a member of the National Research Council's Committee on Women in Science and Engineering.

In 1999, Borg was diagnosed with a brain tumor. She continued to direct the Institute for Women and Technology until 2002. She died in Sonoma, California, on April 6, 2003.

In honor of Borg, the Institute for Women and Technology was renamed to the Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology in 2003.

Several other awards and programs have been given to Borg's life and work. In 2004, Google introduced the Google Anita Borg Memorial Scholarship to recognize Borg's contributions. The Women Techmakers Scholars Program, as of 2017, is the program. The program has widened to include women from Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East. The Anita Borg Prize at the University of Melbourne, which was named in her honour.

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