Evelyn Berezin
Evelyn Berezin invented what we know of as the first office computer in 1953 while working for the Underwood Company. Underwood was sold subsequently to the Olivetti copany which never marketed Berezin's invention. Berezin went on to work for Teleregister where she developed several online real-time systems. These included the first online airline-reservation system in the world for United Airlines.
In 1968 Evelyn Berezin arrived at the idea of developing a word processor that would enable secretaries and ordinary people to store and edit texts in less tedious ways than could be accomplished with typewriters. She established her own company, Readactron, using the by now available microprocssing chips to develop her word processors--machines designed as an improvement over IBM's electric typewriter. Berezin sold her company to the Burroughs Corporation which essentially shelved her word processor. By the 1980s with the boom in technology it was clear that people were ready for computerized word processors. Burroughs, however, had lost out in its chance to have been the leader in the word processing revolution.
Seshat Goddess of Numbers
References:
Mothers and Daughters of Invention by Autumn Stanley (Rutgers University Press, 1995) pp. 369, 388, 448-449,481, 495Patently Female by Ethlie Ann Vare and Greg Ptacek (John Wiley and Sons, 2002) pp.73-74
Web Sites
Word ProcessingEvelyn Berezin:Misunderstood Milestones
Evelyn Berezin:Short Bio
