Milly Koss
Milly Koss in the 1950s as a consultant to UNIVAC
Mildred “Milly” Koss (1928–2012) was a pioneering American computer programmer. Born and raised in Philadelphia, Koss lost both parents as a child and was raised by her grandmother. Koss attended the Philadelphia High School for Girls and earned a degree in mathematics from the University of Pennsylvania in 1950. After graduating, Koss joined the Eckert-Mauchly Computer Corporation, where she worked with Grace Hopper and other early programmers on UNIVAC I. She went on to work for Remington Rand, Burroughs, Philco, and Control Data Corporation, developing programs and working with emerging technologies as the computer industry rapidly evolved. Koss later spent approximately twenty-five years at Harvard University, where her work expanded from programming and systems development to management, technology evaluation, databases, and information security. She eventually managed a department of about forty people and became one of the university’s senior women in computing. Koss married Norman Koss, whom she met through Hillel while attending the University of Pennsylvania, and together they raised three children.
Mildred “Milly” Koss discusses her childhood in Philadelphia, her Jewish upbringing, education, family life, and pioneering career in computer programming. Born in 1928, Koss describes growing up during the Depression, losing both parents at a young age, and being raised by her observant Jewish grandmother in a family that strongly valued education for both women and men. She recalls attending the University of Pennsylvania, where she studied mathematics and met her future husband, Norman Koss. Koss recounts beginning her programming career in 1950 with the Eckert-Mauchly Computer Corporation, where she worked on UNIVAC I alongside early computing figures including Grace Hopper, and her subsequent work with Remington Rand, Burroughs, Philco, Control Data Corporation, and other organizations. She discusses combining her career with raising three children, including the flexible and work-from-home arrangements that allowed her to continue programming. Koss also describes moving with her family to Massachusetts, their involvement in the Jewish community, and her approximately twenty-five-year career at Harvard University, where she worked in systems development, database technology, management, research and development, and information security. Throughout the interview, Koss reflects on technological change, problem-solving, marriage and family, gender discrimination, and the changing opportunities available to women in computing over the course of her career.
The views expressed in these interviews are solely those of the speakers and do not reflect the positions of JWA or its affiliates.
