Bobby Hersom

Bobby Hersom (born 1929 in Cheshire, England) is a British mathematician and computer scientist known for her early work on computers at Elliott Brothers, Hatfield Polytechnic, and the Rothamstead Agricultural Research Station.¹

Life

Hersom was born Beryl Lewis (not Roberta as in ²) in Cheshire, England, the oldest of three children. She earned a maths degree from the University of Cambridge in 1950. She then earned a teaching degree in 1951.¹ She was a member of The Round, an English Country Dance Club while at Cambridge.³⁴^: 267

She married Ed Hersom, who she met through work, in 1954.⁵^: 116

Her son Colin also attended Cambridge³ and was a mathematician and her daughter was a farmer.¹ She regretted having to quit her work as a computer scientist after her first child was born, which meant she could only work freelance.⁶

Her husband died in 2002.⁴^: 302

Career

After earning her teaching degree, Hersom worked as a teacher, but realized she didn't enjoy that work.¹

She started working in the Theory Division at Elliott Brothers in Borehamwood, UK, in 1953.⁴^{: 262, 267} There she wrote software programs for Nicholas, a research computer. Some of the software she developed processed radar data.¹ In 1954, she left that job to start her family.⁵^: 116²

Hersom then worked for Rothamstead for 11 years.¹ She later worked as a consultant for Hatfield Polytechnic, along with her husband. She worked there until retirement.¹

References

Janet Abbate (20 September 2001). "Oral-History:Bobby Hersom". Engineering and Technology History Wiki. Archived from the original on 11 April 2020. Retrieved 11 April 2020.
Lavington, Simon (2019). Early Computing in Britain: Ferranti Ltd. and Government Funding, 1948-1958. Springer. p. 360. ISBN 9783030151034.
"The Round: Cambridge University English Country Dance Club". Archived from the original on 12 April 2020. Retrieved 11 April 2020.
Simon Lavington (May 2011). Moving Targets: Elliott-Automation and the Dawn of the Computer Age in Britain, 1947 – 67. Springer Science & Business Media. ISBN 9781848829336.
Janet Abbate (2012). Recoding Gender: Women's Changing Participation in Computing. MIT Press. ISBN 9780262304535.
Morley, Chantal; McDonnell, Martina (December 2014). "The Gendering of the Computing Field in Finland, France and the United Kingdom Between 1960 and 1990". Connecting Women: Women, Gender and ICT in Europe in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Century. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-20837-4_8. ISBN 9783319208374. Retrieved 11 April 2020.

[ETHW-1] Janet Abbate (20 September 2001). "Oral-History:Bobby Hersom". Engineering and Technology History Wiki. Archived from the original on 11 April 2020. Retrieved 11 April 2020.

[Lavington2-2] Lavington, Simon (2019). Early Computing in Britain: Ferranti Ltd. and Government Funding, 1948-1958. Springer. p. 360. ISBN 9783030151034.

[TheRound-3] "The Round: Cambridge University English Country Dance Club". Archived from the original on 12 April 2020. Retrieved 11 April 2020.

[Lavington-4] Simon Lavington (May 2011). Moving Targets: Elliott-Automation and the Dawn of the Computer Age in Britain, 1947 – 67. Springer Science & Business Media. ISBN 9781848829336.

[Abbate-5] Janet Abbate (2012). Recoding Gender: Women's Changing Participation in Computing. MIT Press. ISBN 9780262304535.

[6] Morley, Chantal; McDonnell, Martina (December 2014). "The Gendering of the Computing Field in Finland, France and the United Kingdom Between 1960 and 1990". Connecting Women: Women, Gender and ICT in Europe in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Century. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-20837-4_8. ISBN 9783319208374. Retrieved 11 April 2020.

1

2

3

4

5

6