Re:RIP: Kathleen Booth, the inventor of assembly language
by DrBazza on Sunday November 06, 2022 @11:58AM
(#33494602)
I think everyone on here appreciates obits for tech pioneers, particularly those that are less well known. Frankly there's not a lot of websites, if any, that publish obituaries for anyone other than people like Steve Jobs. It's educational and interesting to learn how some tech was due to someone we've pretty much never heard of.
Re:RIP: Kathleen Booth, the inventor of assembly language
by lproven on Monday November 07, 2022 @09:35AM
(#33506253)
Sadly, there are too many to write. We discuss them when they happen but all too often it's someone who was hugely important in one particular tiny community or specialism or something, and who the rest of the world has mostly never heard of.
If there isn't a writer who knows that area or that field, then it's hard to cover and explain adequately. A few have come up in my time on the Reg who are worthy of coverage but none of the available team really has relevant expertise. :-(
I am very glad to hear that you like it, and I am delighted to see it doing so well. I think it's only the 2nd or 3rd obit I've done for the Reg and I did not get a style guide; I just read some previous ones.
It was fascinating to write this. I did a lot of reading and research, and the more I learned, the more interesting and impressive her and her husband's work become to me.
In the end my editor was really chasing me to file my piece, so I am happy that it proved worth the time investment. He too is surprised how well it's done. It may be my single most-tweeted story yet, in a year full-time at El Reg.
FWIW, some background context: Kathleen Booth got her BSc from the same college I got mine. J D Bernal's mentor, W L Bragg, was the son of perhaps the most famous graduate of my secondary school, King William's College: W H Bragg. They are tenuous connections but both pleased me.