Meet An “Amazing” Who Had The Courage To Be True To Herself

Lynn Conway, at 82, received what had to be the most unexpected kudo of her long and illustrious career: a Lifetime Achievement Award for her pioneering work in Computer Science from IBM. IBM cited her important role in defining the modern computing industry, paving the way for how computing chips are designed and made today. IBM also gave her a formal and public apology for how it treated her back in 1968. A 29 year old computer engineer at the time, Lynn told her IBM supervisors that she was transgender, whereupon they promptly fired her. A decision IBM now regrets.

That didn’t stop Lynn’s career success one bit. She went on to work at Xerox (among other firms), and joined DARPA. She eventually took the position as professor of electrical engineering and computer science and associate dean of engineering at the University of Michigan from which she retired as professor emerita. Truly a marvelous career.

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