It seems like a story made for the movies: the first general-purpose computer was actually programmed by a half-dozen female math whizzes. Yet for too long, their efforts have been largely unknown. Lawyer and digital-rights advocate Kathy Kleiman describes her quest to learn about them and bring them some overdue recognition.

At 16, Brittany Wenger created a tool to diagnose breast cancer, helping women detect cancer early. Here’s how, and why, she did it.