| (1916 - )
When the UNIVAC (Universal Automatic Computer) and the history of computing was first starting, many people were too busy to keep track of all its twists and turns. Because of Margaret R. Fox, however, the world has the
documents and recorded history of some of the biggest movements in computing history. Fox served much of her time in the administrative world, eventually acting as the chief of the Office of Computer Information in the National Bureau of Standards Institute for Computer Science and Technology. She also was a founding member of the AFIPS (American Federation for Information Processing
Societies), acting as the first secretary.
Fox was born in 1916. She studied math and physics, although she received her degree in English from Wisconsin State College in 1940. Fox didn’t really start working with electronics until she enlisted in the U.S. Naval Reserve in 1943. While at the Naval Research Station in Washington, she worked as an electronics engineer in radar, and she continued to work there after she was
discharged in 1946, according to information at the Charles Babbage Institute at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis.
After her work in the military, Fox joined the NBS (National Bureau of Standards; now NIST [National Institute of Standards and Technology]) in 1951, as part of the technical staff for the Electronic Computer Laboratory. The NBS was formed to help the nation’s technological progress and help its businesses. At the NBS, Fox was a technical alternate and handled much of the
contract from the Bureau of Census for the first UNIVAC computer with Eckert-Mauchly Computer. Fox took her “neat and tidy” military training and attempted to keep track of much of the paperwork for that first big computer project.
Eventually, she moved on to produce reviews and bibliographies for the RICASIP (Research Information Center and Advisory Service on Information Processing).
In 1966, Fox was named chief of the Office of Computer Information in the NBS Institute for Computer Science and Technology. This office was one of two parts of a new Center for Computer Sciences and Technology for the Institute for Applied Technology, created as part of the NBS in 1965. This Center provided technical assistance to other parts of the government, and it recommended and
established computing standards. Fox continued to head up the office until 1975. Also, as a member of the NBS, the staff was encouraged to participate in the industry and its societies. For a time, she was involved in the ACM (Association for Computing Machinery).
In 1951, Fox also attended the first Computer Conference in Philadelphia. The following year, an official group was formed to take charge of the conferences, which included the most eminent people in the industry and government. In 1961, several societies joined to create a new organization, called the AFIPS, which would sponsor the Joint Computer Conference, eventually called the National
Computer Conference. The ACM, the American Institute of Electrical Engineers, and the Institute of Radio Engineers officially founded AFIPS. These Joint Computer Conferences were semiannual events that let people in the field of
electronics view exhibits and attend sessions in their industry. AFIPS worked to represent these American organizations at an international level, as well as
share understanding in information science. The organization also created the Annals of the History of Computing and awarded an annual Harry M. Goode Memorial
Award. Fox acted as the first secretary of the organization. Not only did she help create its constitution, but she even kept a copy of it. AFIPS ended its operation around 1990, although the IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers) took over publishing the Annals. Fox’s papers dating from 1935 to 1975 are archived at the Charles Babbage Institute at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis.
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