Alexandra Illmer Forsythe

Alexandra Winifred Illmer Forsythe
Born 1918
Boston
Alma mater Swarthmore College, Vassar College
Known for Authoring a series of computer science textbooks, including the first computer science textbook in 1969
Children 2

Alexandra Winifred Illmer Forsythe (1918–1980) was an American computer scientist best known for co-authoring a series of computer science textbooks[1] during the 1960s and 1970s,[2] including the first ever computer science textbook, Computer Science: A First Course, in 1969.[3]

Biography

Forsythe was born in Boston and raised in Cortland, New York.[4]

Forsythe earned a bachelor's degree in mathematics from Swarthmore College. She went to Vassar College for graduate school, and earned a master's degree in mathematics there in 1941.[5] She later developed an interest in computing.[2]

In 1969, Forsythe published Computer Science: A First Course.[3] In 1975, she published a second edition.[3] In 1978, Forsythe and a co-author, E. I. Organick, published Programming Language Structures.[3]

Forsythe taught at Stanford and the University of Utah.[4]

Alexandra Forsythe was married to George Forsythe, who helped establish the computer science program at Stanford University.[6] They had a daughter and a son.[4]

References

  1. ↑ Narins, Brigham (2002). World of Computer Science: A-L. Gale Group. p. 243. ISBN 9780787649609.
  2. 1 2 "The Ada Project". www.women.cs.cmu.edu. Retrieved 2016-05-11.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Inman, James A. (2004). Computers and Writing: The Cyborg Era. Routledge. p. 67. ISBN 9781135636951.
  4. 1 2 3 "Oral History Interview with Alexandra Forsythe" (PDF).
  5. ↑ Obituary, San Francisco Chronicle, January 4, 1980, reproduced by findagrave, retrieved 2016-05-12.
  6. ↑ "University Digital Conservancy".
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