During the 1940s and 1950s, JPL used the word "computer" to refer to a person, rather than a machine. The "computers" did theoretical calculations and experimental data reduction for 325 JPL engineers, Edwards Test Station and White Sands Proving Ground, as well as graphing performance data from the JPL wind tunnels. The job required a minimum of two years of college mathematics or equivalent experience. Some of the "computers" had college degrees with a mathematics major or minor.

Pictured above are most of the 31 employees of the all-female Computing Section. Two women in this group had recently attended an IBM training school, and programmed problems for JPL's new "IBM machine".

This photo appeared in the February 1953 issue of Lab-Oratory, the JPL employee newspaper. A feature entitled Sections on Parade highlighted a different organization each month.

For more information about the history of JPL, contact the JPL Archives.