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Charlotte D. Mooers, 1924-2005


From: David Farber <dave () farber net>
Date: Sun, 17 Apr 2005 13:00:01 -0400


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From: <GLIGOR1 () aol com>
Date: Sun, 17 Apr 2005 12:56:40 EDT
To: 
Subject: Charlotte D. Mooers, 1924-2005

Charlotte D. Mooers, 1924-2005
 
Charlotte Davis Mooers, an expert on email systems during the early years of
the Internet, died on March 17.  She was 80.
 
She was born and raised in Washington D.C., where her parents were both
science writers and her father Watson Davis was the director of Science
Service. During World War II, she met Calvin N. Mooers, a mathematician
working at the U.S. Naval Ordinance Laboratory in a newly formed computer
division, designing an early electronic computer. They married in 1945 and
moved to Cambridge MA, where she received a degree from Simmons College.
She and her husband lived together in Cambridge until his death in 1994.
 
During the 1950s, Mrs. Mooers worked as a technical writer at MIT and for
her husband¹s firm, Rockford Research, which did pioneering research in
artificial intelligence and computing. In the early 1970s, she was hired as
by Bolt, Beranek & Newman (BBN) in Cambridge, where the first computer
network and email system ­ the precursor of today¹s Internet ­ were being
developed.  One of the few women in her field, Mrs. Mooers worked on two
successive networks at BBN, CSNET and NEARNET, as postmaster, providing
technical support to users trying to navigate the new email technology. At
this time, when there were multiple separate email networks, getting a
message from one network to another was complicated, and Mrs. Mooers became
internationally known as an email expert, handling hundreds of requests for
help every day and providing analysis to network administrators on how to
make the system more user friendly.  In addition, she wrote technical
manuals on early email programs and maintained an electronic newsletter that
documented the growth of the Internet.
 
Mrs. Mooers took great joy in her intellect and pursued a wide range of
interests over her lifetime, learning about subjects from dinosaur evolution
and fractal geometry to European history and calligraphy.  She spent many
summers with her family in Hancock, NH, where they hosted ³mushroom walks²
for the Boston Mycological Club and supported conservation efforts in the
area.
 
She leaves daughter Helen S. Solorzano, her husband Roy, and grandchildren
Alonzo and Lucia of Cambridge, MA; daughter Edith A. Mooers and David
Hartley of Melrose, MA; brother Miles Davis and his wife Audrey of
Baltimore, MD; niece Laura Davis of Houston, TX, and nephew Allan Davis of
Baltimore, MD.  A memorial service will be held on April 30, 2005 at 11:00
a.m. at the Bigalow Chapel in Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, MA, with
burial in Hancock, NH in the spring. Memorial donations may be made to the
Harris Center for Conservation Education, 83 Kings Highway, Hancock, NH,
03449. 
 
Arrangements by Beals-Geake-Magliozzi Funeral Home, 781-395-0128.
 
 


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