Lynn Conway may hold the record for longest delay between being unfairly fired and receiving an apology for it. In 1968, IBM—a company that now covers its logo in a rainbow flag each June for Pride Month—fired Conway when she expressed her intention to transition. She died on June 9, 2024 at age 86. IBM eventually apologized to the now-famous computing expert, but only 52 years later, when Conway was 82 years old.
Lynn Conway was a trans woman in tech—and underappreciated for decades after she helped launch the computing revolution
