For the month of April, Planet Mainframe puts the spotlight on influential mainframers, and this week our trivia quiz is all about mainframe trailblazer Eleanor Kolchin. Kolchin built her career at a pivotal moment in computing, when computing machines were transforming scientific research. Beginning in the 1940s, she worked with early systems like IBM’s Selective Sequence Electronic Calculator (SSEC), helping perform complex calculations that would have been impossible by hand.
At institutions including Watson Scientific Computing Laboratory, she adapted to rapidly evolving technologies, from plugboard machines to early programming languages. Her experience reflects an era when computing demanded constant reinvention—laying groundwork for the mainframe systems professionals rely on today.
“When they were computing the orbits of outer planets on the SSEC, the machine took up an entire room, including the ceiling, under the floor and all the walls,” Kolchin recalled in a 2017 interview. “My husband has 13 symphonies on his iPod Mini and they only take up a third of the space. That boggles my mind. You don’t even know what a miracle you’re living in.”
Take our quiz and learn something about this mainframe legend!
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