Evelyn Berezin, The Word Processor Inventor Has Died At 93

If you have never heard of Evelyn Berezin, you mustn’t know who created the first word processor in the world. Yep, it’s Evelyn Berezin I have said. Died at 93 a few days ago, she was well-known as one of the pioneer in the field regarding computers.

Since about 50 years ago, most of the secretaries and journalists have felt grateful to Berezin when she made the first computerized word processor and brought it to the world. As such, the software was the precursor of our familiar and modern software like Microsoft Word or Google Docs.

Back to our creator, Berezin used to work at a typewriter and computer design company called the Underwood Corporation before she quitted her job in 1969. And then, she started up with her own Redactron Corporation. The reason behind her resignation was that she had planned to turn what secretaries were doing at that time into something completely different.

At those periods, computers are under the beginning development and the workforce of secretaries took a significant role in the US. What made all of the female secretaries in the world felt lucky was that they wouldn’t do the boring jobs everyday, as well as type the same pages or documents on typewriters. In the previous years, secretaries’ workload was always extremely massive. From typing two copies of a same origin, to retyping the documents if any mistake, all led to the only result: they must retype the entire content of those documents.

It was in 1969, Berezin invented a word processor, the Data Secretary that was first computerized in the world. The Data Secretary had no screen to show the typed words to users. It height was 1 metre and its width was same as a minibar in a hotel. The word processor was combined with an IBM Selectric Typewriter to become a pair including a keyboard and a “printer”. The most impressive factor in here was that only with a programmable logic circuit and 13 semiconductors, Evelyn Berezin succeeded in designing and programming an unprecedented device.

In spite of its vast size and price, her invention enabled us to edit, delete, cut, and paste any text in the document, which hadn’t ever occurred in the stenography history of secretaries at that time.

From the beginning with the Data Secretary, Berezin’s Redactron designed the modern versions which were equipped with monitors and memory caches in a larger size. With magnetic tapes, IBM did the same thing with their fake computers as Redactron did. The company also imitated the machine made by Berezin and intended to buy Redaction.

Bezerin’s purpose in the creation of the first-word processor was to release secretaries out of their burden of work, but it was apparently more efficient than anyone of us could think. Along with supporting women in their work, the machine also seemed to reduce the job worth of these secretaries.

When Redaction was going down, Evelyn Berezin started to create a lot of new significant computer systems as well as other systems to conduct sophisticated calculations. Bank transactions were automated due to these systems. Moreover, she also designed a system of airline reservation that was first computerized in the world.

Finally, the International Hall of Fame welcomed Evelyn Berezin as one of the Women in Technology in 2011. It’s a pity that her name seemed not to be really familiar with almost all of the civilians nowadays.

At the end of her life, Berezin spent the rest of her life on living with lymphoma and refusing the treatment. A few days ago, she passed away at age 93 with the love of her family and friends.