From: internetado@alt119.net   
      
   Pioneer in Computing and Transgender Advocacy   
      
   Lynn Ann Conway, trailblazing computer scientist, electrical engineer,   
   inventor, and transgender rights advocate, passed away on June 9, 2024,   
   at the age of 86. Her contributions to technology and personal courage   
   in living her truth have left indelible marks on the world.   
      
   Born on January 2, 1938, in Mount Vernon, New York, Conway';s early   
   life was marked by a curiosity about the world and a deep interest in   
   how things worked. She showed an early aptitude for mathematics and   
   science and earned a BSEE (1962) and MSEE (1963) at Columbia   
   University, joining IBM Research at Yorktown Heights upon graduation.   
   There she worked on the ACS Project where she invented generalized   
   dynamic instruction handling-a key advance used in out-of-order   
   execution of instructions and still used by most modern computer   
   processors to improve performance.   
      
   During her time at IBM, Conway began her journey of gender transition.   
   However, when she revealed her plans to IBM management in 1968, she   
   faced the harsh reality of that era';s societal prejudices and was   
   dismissed from her position. IBM apologized in 2020. Conway said that   
   she "lost not only her career and professional reputation, but also her   
   family, relatives, friends and colleagues. She faced a frighteningly   
   uncertain future without a soul in the world to help her other than her   
   doctors."   
      
   Despite this setback, Conway completed her transition and re-entered   
   the workforce under her new identity, joining Memorex Corporation and   
   then the famed Xerox Palo Alto Research Center (PARC), a computing   
   technology hothouse filled with the country's brightest minds. At PARC   
   in 1979, she coauthored the paradigm-changing textbook Introduction to   
   VLSI Systems with Carver Mead, a work that revolutionized the design of   
   computer chips and influenced generations of engineers.   
   The book that changed everything.   
      
   Conway, who was made a Computer History Museum Fellow in 2014, "for her   
   work in developing and disseminating new methods of integrated circuit   
   (IC) design," had no experience with ICs before she developed this   
   simpler, scalable method for designing them with Mead. The textbook,   
   and the courses it spawned, standardized and democratized a process   
   that was once the sole territory of specialists at large, private   
   semiconductor firms. Thousands of students were soon trained in what   
   came to be known as the Mead-Conway design methodology in Very   
   Large-Scale Integration (VLSI).   
      
   While at PARC Conway also invented and demonstrated an internet   
   infrastructure for rapid chip prototyping, spawning the "fabless-design   
   + silicon-foundry" paradigm of semiconductor design and manufacturing.   
   The resulting "MOSIS" system enabled the rapid development of thousands   
   of chip designs, leading to many major startup companies in the 1980s   
   and beyond. Mead-Conway made VLSI design accessible to engineers and   
   students worldwide and laid the foundation for the modern semiconductor   
   industry's next leap forward.   
   Conway at Xerox PARC in 1977.   
      
   As University of Michigan engineering professor Valeria Bertacco notes,   
   "Chips used to be designed by drawing them with paper and pencil like   
   an architect's blueprints in the pre-digital era. Conway's work   
   developed algorithms that enabled our field to use software to arrange   
   millions, and later billions, of transistors on a chip."   
      
   Conway was a dedicated educator. As visiting faculty at the   
   Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), she experimentally   
   introduced the first Mead-Conway VLSI course in 1978. By 1983, only   
   four years after the book's introduction, these VLSI design courses had   
   spread to nearly 120 universities.   
   I'd love to get an award for simply creating one of the greatest-ever   
   MIT hacks. It was so much fun! Each student could learn how and then   
   design their own silicon chip. They didn't know VLSI had just been   
   invented; they didn't even need to understand it when they started.   
   They were just given the minimum set of knowledge needed to start   
   making things.- Lynn Conway   
      
   Lynn Conway';s impact extended far beyond her technical contributions.   
   She was a strong advocate for transgender rights and visibility, using   
   her own experiences to foster understanding and acceptance. After her   
   transition became public in the late 1990s, she became an inspiration   
   to many within the LGBTQ+ community. Her courage in sharing her story   
   is important in breaking down barriers and combating the stigma faced   
   by transgender individuals. She provided a role model for many people,   
   demonstrating that it is possible to achieve greatness while living   
   authentically.   
   Grace Hsia, project manager and CoE alumnus, hugs Lynn Conway at the   
   Own It Leading Inclusion: Gender In Engineering keynote event on   
   November 18, 2014. Photo: Joseph Xu   
      
   Throughout her life, Conway received numerous awards and honors   
   recognizing her pioneering work and advocacy. These included being   
   named a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics engineers   
   (IEEE) and a member of the National Academy of Engineering.   
      
   Lynn Conway';s personal life was marked by a quiet strength. She shared   
   a loving and supportive partnership with her husband, Charlie, whom she   
   married in 2002. Together, they built a life filled with love, mutual   
   respect, and shared passions. Lynn is survived by Charlie, who was by   
   her side when she passed.   
   Main image: Lynn Conway, 2014 CHM Fellow.   
   For More   
      
   Visit Lynn Conway's website:   
   http://ai.eecs.umich.edu/people/conway/conway.html   
      
   Read more about Lynn Conway';s transgender advocacy in Courage,   
   Resilience, and Sharing.   
      
   The post In Memoriam: Lynn Conway (1938-2024) appeared first on CHM.   
      
   https://computerhistory.org/blog/in-memoriam-lynn-conway-1938-2024/   
      
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