Ida Rhodes

Who was Ida Rhodes?

Ida Rhodes was a mathematician who became a member of the clique of influential women at the heart of early computer development in the United States.

Ida Rhodes was born in a Jewish village between Nemyriv and Tulchyn in the Ukraine. She came to the United States in 1913 and was studying mathematics at Cornell University only six years later.

She received her BA in mathematics in February, 1923 and her MA in September of the same year, graduating Phi Beta Kappa. She later studied at Columbia University in 1930 and 1931.

Rhodes held numerous positions involving mathematical computations before she joined the Mathematical Tables Project in 1940, where she worked under Gertrude Blanch, whom she would later credit as her mentor.

She was a pioneer in the analysis of systems of programming, and with Betty Holberton designed the C-10 programming language in the early 1950s for the UNIVAC I. She also designed the original computer used for the Social Security Administration. In 1949, the Department of Commerce awarded her an Gold Medal for "significant pioneering leadership and outstanding contributions to the scientific progress of the Nation in the functional design and the application of electronic digital computing equipment."