“Report immediately.” Those two words, sent in a telegram, set Jean Bartik on an unexpected path with global impact. Jean graduated from Stanberry High School in rural Missouri in 1941 at the age of 16. She ranked as salutatorian and earned the highest score in mathematics, later graduating with a mathematics degree from Northwest Missouri State Teachers College in 1945. After deciding not to pursue a career in teaching, she answered a U.S.

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