Interviewed by David C Brock on 2025-04-21 in Venice, CA
© Computer History Museum
In this oral history interview, Saydean Zeldin discusses her career as a programmer, software engineer, and entrepreneur. The interview begins with a discussion of her family background and youth, and her developing interests in mathematics and physics. She reviews her education at Temple University, and her early career at the General Electric Space Sciences Laboratory in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania where she first began programming digital computers. Zeldin then recounts her career at MIT’s Instrumentation Laboratory and her work programming for the Apollo Guidance Computer, including for engine burns and some navigation, and then working on error analysis and programming methodologies to avoid errors with Margaret Hamilton. Zeldin discusses her experience as a co-founder with Hamilton of Higher Order Software, and then as an executive with the firm Mercator, active in the field of electronic data exchange.
- Note: Transcripts represent what was said in the interview. However, to enhance meaning or add clarification, interviewees have the opportunity to modify this text afterward. This may result in discrepancies between the transcript and the video. Please refer to the transcript for further information – http://www.computerhistory.org/collections/catalog/300000057
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Collection number: 300000058
Acquisition number: 2025.0043
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