Ruth Engleback

Born in 1933 in England, Ruth embarked on an extraordinary journey in 1953 when she was just 20 years old. It was a time when the world of computers was in its infancy, and Ruth found herself at the heart of it all, working for the British Tabulating Machine Company (BTM). Despite not having a university degree like some of her peers, Ruth's deep business knowledge, gained from working at a small company, set her apart. BTM recognized her potential and trained her, along with three other women, to program. These women came from diverse academic backgrounds—history, geography, and experience with calculators—but Ruth's business acumen would soon prove invaluable. She travelled extensively, interacting with customers and solving complex problems, all while programming the early computers that were breaking new ground.

One of her most notable assignments involved programming a BTM machine for an electricity generator company, which employed 400 women each year to calculate cycle efficiency ratios for power stations. Ruth's program, utilizing 'Optimum programming,' completed its calculations in just 11 minutes—an impressive feat for the time.

Ruth was seconded to Middlesex County Council, where she developed a sophisticated payroll program that managed the pay for 15,000 employees across 13 or 14 different unions. Each union had its own complex set of rules, particularly for overtime. To tackle this challenge, Ruth designed a binary decision tree, assigning binary codes to each union member, which streamlined the entire payroll process. Her innovative approach allowed pay to be calculated swiftly, bypassing the need for repetitive logic checks for each employee.

Ruth then began machine-testing BTM computers on the factory floor in Stevenage before they were shipped to clients. Her deep understanding of the machines made her an expert in the field, and she soon began offering consultation services to BTM's clients, including the Birmingham City Council.

In August 1962, during the tense days of the Cuban Missile Crisis, Ruth and her family decided to immigrate to New Zealand, seeking peace and a new life far from the threat of war. Ruth's entry into the New Zealand workforce happened almost by chance. Her husband, while tramping in the Coromandel, met someone from MotorSpec, and mentioned Ruth's programming skills. This chance encounter led to Ruth being approached by MotorSpec to program their newly acquired machine in 1963. With a three-month-old baby at home, Ruth took the job, setting up and operating the machine. She was the only programmer at MotorSpec and remained there for about a year.

Ruth's journey with MotorSpec didn't end there. In 1979, she returned to the company, this time working on an ICL1902T computer, with her daughter Lucy also joining the company. The technology evolved, and MotorSpec eventually replaced their ICL equipment with IBM under the leadership of Bruce Rankin.

Meanwhile, the ICT 1201, a machine Ruth had worked on at MotorSpec, found its way to ATI (later known as AUT), where Ruth trained students in computer programming. This role would be her last in programming before she transitioned to a computer manager role at Paykel Brothers.

Ruth believes the ICT computer she once worked on eventually made its way to MOTAT, but its final fate, like that of the IBM 650, remains unknown.