Computer Pioneer Dame Stephanie ‘Steve’ Shirley Opens Up About Survival in a 2010 Interview

In the latest episode of the wonderfully animated lost interview series “Blank on Blank“, computer pioneer Dame Stephanie “Steve” Shirley opened up about survival, how she and her siblings escaped from the Nazis, how she got started in the burgeoning computer field, the tacit sexism of the industry and her iconic name change. The interview was conducted in 2010 and comes from the Oral History of British Science at the British Library.

I felt that I wasn’t really getting any responses from the letters that I was sending out to people offering services. My husband actually suggested that perhaps it was the good old-fashioned sexism. They saw a letter from Stephanie Shirley, and, it just went in the bin. So I started writing as Steve Shirley and the work did start slowly to flow in and I’ve been Steve ever since.

Dame Stephanie Shirley - 2013

image via Wikimedia Commons

Lori Dorn
Lori Dorn

Lori is a Laughing Squid Contributing Editor based in New York City who has been writing blog posts for over a decade. She also enjoys making jewelry, playing guitar, taking photos and mixing craft cocktails.