Jean Sammet was an early computer programmer known for her work developing programming languages that spurred a technological revolution.

Sammet graduated from Mount Holyoke College with a degree in Mathematics in 1949 and followed up with a Masters in Mathematics from University of Illinois in 1978. She worked at Sylvania Electric Products from 1958 to 1961, where she headed software development form the Army Signal Corps’ MOBIDIC computer. While there, she also played a pivotal role in creating the business-centric programming language COBOL.

Sammet joined IBM in 1961, where she led the team that developed FORMAC, an important programming language and symbolic mathematics system, and later worked on the development of the company’s Ada programming language. She ultimately worked for IBM for more than 30 years.