Among the most remarkable women of the 20th century, Mary Lee Berners-Lee undoubtedly deserves a place. She was a British mathematician and computer scientist, devoting her life to precise sciences, informatics, and computing. Read more on birminghamka.
Mary Lee often referred to herself as the “Grandmother of the Internet.” She is also recognized as the first female freelancer in the world and a pioneering programmer who advanced machine code programming. Neither having four children nor the gender biases of the mid-20th century stopped her from achieving success. Here’s a closer look at the life of this remarkable Birmingham-born woman.
Childhood, Youth, and Education
Mary Lee was born in Birmingham in 1924. Her parents were educators, and from a young age, they encouraged her to study diligently. Noticing her talent and passion for mathematics, they helped her enroll at Yardley School, known for fostering mathematical skills in students. After graduating, she continued her education at the University of Birmingham.
For several years, Mary Lee lived in Australia, where she had a successful career. However, she always longed to return home. The tragic death of her brother on the front lines of World War II became a turning point, prompting her to move back to England to support her parents.
After returning, she searched for a job and came across an advertisement looking for mathematicians willing to learn programming.
At the time, Mary Lee knew nothing about programming. Determined, she went to the local library to find books about computers. In later interviews, she recalled that she became so absorbed in the materials that she spent the entire day reading and returned the next day for more. After this, she decided to apply for the job, which led her to the electrical engineering firm Ferranti—and she had no idea how much she would achieve there.
Work at Ferranti
Mary Lee found her job at Ferranti to be exciting yet challenging. Training lasted only a few weeks, and she was soon assigned to debugging software programs. At the time, machine code programming was riddled with errors, and computers had dual-level memory, which affected their speed and efficiency. As she worked with machine code, she also learned to solve complex equation systems.
Her work environment was far from easy:
- Tense relationships: The team was newly formed, and collaboration between engineers and programmers was difficult. Since only one person could work on the computer at a time, employees divided shifts carefully. To avoid missing her turn, Mary Lee sometimes even slept at work.
- Gender pay gap: Women earned less than men in the same roles. Mary Lee fought for equal pay, taking her case directly to management. She successfully secured equal salaries for herself and her female colleagues.
- Low wages in IT: At the time, programming was not a high-paying profession. It attracted only the most dedicated enthusiasts. However, Mary Lee was undeterred, driven by her love for programming.
Personal Life and Career
At 29 years old, Mary Lee met a new employee at Ferranti, and the two quickly developed a relationship. They married soon after. Mary Lee later joked that as a workaholic, her only chance of finding love was in the office! The couple was happy, and soon, they welcomed their first child.
During the 1950s, Mary Lee stepped away from full-time work to raise her four children. She was a devoted mother and spent quality time with her family. However, her passion for programming never faded. She continued working remotely, taking on freelance projects in programming and mathematics.
Thus, Mary Lee became the world’s first female IT freelancer.
As her children grew, she returned to full-time programming, mastering modern languages like BASIC and Fortran.
Interesting Facts About Mary Lee’s Son
In 1955, Tim Berners-Lee was born. Following in his parents’ footsteps, he dedicated his life to IT innovations. Tim is widely known as the inventor of the World Wide Web, HTML, URL, and HTTP. He created the first web browser and web server, earning him the title of “Father of the Internet.”
However, Mary Lee was the one who introduced him to programming and encouraged his passion for computing. Many believe that without her influence, the internet as we know it might not exist.
Tim Berners-Lee has always advocated for net neutrality. His goal was to ensure internet privacy for users. He criticized governments and corporations that violate user confidentiality by tracking online activity.
Mary Lee Berners-Lee passed away in 2017. In one of her last interviews, she admitted that she never enjoyed any work as much as programming. She remained mentally sharp and enthusiastic about the IT industry until her final days.
Today, she is remembered as an idealistic expert, a lifelong advocate for technology, and an inspiring woman who helped shape modern computing.
