Margaret Marrs facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Margaret Marrs
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| Born | 1929 Lancashire, England
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| Died | 2022 |
| Alma mater | Girton College, Cambridge |
| Known for | Senior Operator of the original Electronic delay storage automatic computer (EDSAC), an early British computer constructed at the University of Cambridge Mathematical Laboratory |
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Margaret Marrs (born in 1929, died in 2022) was a talented English computer programmer. She was the main operator of a very early computer called the Electronic delay storage automatic computer (EDSAC). EDSAC was built in England at the University of Cambridge Mathematical Laboratory. It was one of the first electronic digital computers ever used regularly.
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Margaret's Early Life and School
Margaret Marrs was born in Lancashire, England. She grew up in a small village named Simonstone. She went to the Clitheroe Royal Grammar School. There, she studied important subjects like maths, Latin, and French.
After school, she went to Girton College, Cambridge, to study maths. She finished her studies in 1948.
Working with Early Computers
Programming at Ferranti
In 1951, Margaret Marrs started working as a computer programmer. She worked for a company called Ferranti in Manchester, UK. This company made electrical equipment.
Her job was to change complex math problems, called differential equations, so that early automatic computers could solve them. She used a special method called the Runge-Kutta method to do this.
Operating the EDSAC Computer
In 1952, Marrs went back to Cambridge. She got a job at the University of Cambridge Mathematical Laboratory. She became the Senior Operator for the EDSAC computer.
Her work involved putting programs into the computer. She did this by punching holes into long strips of paper, called tape. The computer would then read these tapes to run its programs.
Helping Rebuild EDSAC
Many years later, in 2016, Margaret Marrs helped with a special project. She joined other computer scientists who had worked on EDSAC. They helped the National Museum of Computing to rebuild the EDSAC computer.
They shared important information about how the old machine worked. Margaret and other EDSAC experts even visited the team to celebrate the computer's 70th birthday.
Margaret's Legacy
Margaret Marrs left generous gifts in her will. These gifts went to the Fitzwilliam Museum and Girton College. This helped support future learning and discovery.
See also
In Spanish: Margaret Marrs para niños
