1959
Grace Hopper
Programming pioneer
Grace Hopper graduated from Yale in
1934 with a mathematics Ph.D., and her
service in the U.S. Navy Reserve dur-
ing World War II put her on the front
lines of computer science in the 1940s.
By 1959, she had helped to create and
popularize COBOL, one
of the first standardized
computer languages. As
a pioneer in program-
ming, Hopper shaped
the world of software
as we know it today—and paved the
way for women everywhere to thrive
in math, computer science and service
to their countries. In 2016, President
Obama posthumously awarded her the
Presidential Medal of Freedom, saying,
“If Wright is flight and Edison is light,
then Hopper is code.” —Susan FowlerFowler is the author of Whistleblower1958
China Machado
Redefining beauty
Before Noelie “China” Machado started
modeling, she said, she never thought
she was beautiful; there were “no
images” of people like her. (Machado
had Portuguese, Chinese and Indian
roots.) But in 1958, she was photo-
graphed by Richard Avedon, becoming
one of the first known
women of color featured
in a major U.S. magazine.
Machado said Avedon
threatened to sever ties
with Harper’s Bazaar
when the publisher balked at her appear-
ance. The final images paved the way for
other women of color in the industry.
Time and again, Machado was a pio-
neer. She became an editor at Harper’s
in 1962 and signed with IMG Models
at the age of 81—proving that a more
inclusive view of beauty was not just
possible, but necessary. —Cady Lang1957
Irna Phillips
Queen of the soap opera
Forbidden love, hidden children, tragic deaths, tearful reunions.
For Irna Phillips, creator of the soap opera, nail-biters and heart-
break were all in a day’s work. Phillips pioneered the genre when
she wrote, produced and starred in a radio serial called Painted
Dreams in the early ’30s. By 1957, her newest TV project, As the
World Turns, was making soap-opera history. The show broke
boundaries, expanding soap operas’ length and scope. With its
focus on the residents of fictional Oakdale, Ill., As the World Turns
privileged character over plot—a method still seen in today’s pres-
tige TV. Phillips popularized cliff-hangers and swelling organ
music to ratchet up tension, and commercials for household goods
like margarine and, yes, soap to wash it away. Within two years
of its release, As the World Turns became America’s top daytime
show. Eventually 10 million viewers tuned in every afternoon.
Dismissed by critics, the show was beloved by women who
saw their preoccupations and power reflected. Its popularity
proved to advertisers that women’s stories were worth investment.
As the World Turns ran for 54 years, the third longest TV run of
any daytime soap. Another Phillips creation, Guiding Light, was
canceled in 2009 after 72 years on radio and television.
—Erin Blakemore
PHILLIPS, WITH PHOTOGRAPHS OF
HER CHILDREN IN 1949 IN CHICAGO
1950sPHILLIPS: WISCONSIN HISTORICAL SOCIETY; MACHADO: JERRY SCHATZBERG—GETTY IMAGES; HOPPER: LIBRARY OF CONGRESS/INTERIM ARCHIVES/GETTY IMAGES^59