And for the first time, a woman wins the ''Nobel prize of computing"

Finally, a computer scientist from the United States has won the two thousand six A.M. Turing Award. The Association for Computing Machinery named Frances Allen as the winner. The A.C.M. is an international organization for computer scientists and educators.

The A.M. Turing Award has been called the Nobel prize of computing. It is given every year to scientists and engineers who created the systems and theories that have aided the information technology industry. The Turing Award winner receives one hundred thousand dollars. Earlier winners include Vinton Cerf and Robert Kahn for helping to design the Internet.

The award is named for the British mathematics expert Alan M. Turing. He is considered one of the fathers of computer science. His work helped Allied nations learn how the German military passed secret commands and orders during World War Two.

This is the first time that the Turing Award has been given to a woman. The Association for Computing Machinery says it is honoring Frances Allen for improving the performance of computer programs in solving problems. It says her work also helped to speed up the use of high performance computing.

Miz Allen is retired from her job with the T.J. Watson Research Center at IBM Corporation. She joined the company in nineteen fifty-seven to teach the computer language FORTRAN to IBM engineers. She was trained as a mathematics teacher but became interested in the power of computers.
Miz Allen has won several awards and honorary college degrees. She told the USA Today newspaper that she wants to use the Turing Award to influence more young women to study computer science. She will receive her award in June at ceremonies in San Diego, California.