> [!NOTE]+ Meta > Author:: Kaushik Patowary > Reference:: https://www.amusingplanet.com/2020/02/that-time-when-computer-memory-was.html > Date:: 2020 > Tags:: #USA #weaving > WeftLinks:: [[Scientific value of craft]] > Claim:: [[Claim - There is craft in laboratory and other scientific work]] > [!SUMMARY] Summary > The early computers required fine hand skills of women to weave binary circuits >Like all crafts involving weaving, sewing and other forms of textile making that has been historically associated with women, the job of weaving core memory was also entrusted to women. During the first Apollo missions, the software of the Apollo Guidance Computer was physically weaved into a high-density storage called “core rope memory”, which was similar to magnetic core memories. To build the memories, NASA hired skilled women from the local textile industry as well as from the Waltham Watch Company, because of the precision needed to work around the cores with a needle. Sitting across each other at long desks, these women passed wires back and forth through a matrix of eyelet holes, each comprising a magnetic core bead. Passing a wire through the core created a “one,” while bypassing the core created a “zero”.