Inez Hazel at MIT Lincoln Lab, 1956

Inez Hazel, a graduate of [Hunter College] with a major in math and a minor in physics, was hired in 1954 to work on programming for the Cape Cod System. She was an early member of the Society of Women Engineers and served on the Planning Committee for the 1956 SWE Eastern Seaboard Conference held in Boston. Inez worked on a simulation program that studied the feasibility of tracking aircraft under electronic countermeasure conditions with azimuth information only. She transferred to [The MITRE Corporation] when that company was founded to build the SAGE system.

The image above showcases Inez preparing parameter testing plans for a subprogram. During a parameter test, the programmer operates the subprogram with simulated tables of input data. She must bring out not only the results of the operation but also an idea of what happened at each step along the way so that she can find and fix any trouble.

MIT Lincoln Laboratory @lincoln_laboratory on Instagram, February 2023