Invisible Operators

Invisible Operators: The Women Who Built the Machines Men PhotographedThey stood shoulder to shoulder beneath a forest of cables and vacuum tubes, grease on their fingertips, slide rules tucked into pockets, faces lit by dials and filament glow. The giant machine hummed and clicked—an analogue brain the size of a living room—its operators methodically replugging panels, setting switches, and scribbling results. A suited man snapped photographs from the periphery, smiling for the camera as if…