Lynn Conway

Life & Legacy

Lynn Ann Conway (January 2, 1938 – June 9, 2024) was an American computer scientist, electrical engineer, and transgender rights activist.
In the 1960s, while working at IBM, Conway invented generalized dynamic instruction handling, a key advancement used in out-of-order execution, used by most modern computer processors to improve performance. IBM fired Conway in 1968 after she revealed her intention to undergo a gender transition, which the company apologized for in 2020.
Following her transition, Conway adopted a new name and identity and restarted her career. She worked at Xerox PARC from 1973 to 1983, where she led the "LSI Systems" group. Together with Carver Mead she co-led the Mead–Conway VLSI chip design revolution in very large-scale integrated (VLSI) microchip design, which reshaped the field of microchip design in the 1980s.
Conway joined the University of Michigan as a professor of electrical engineering and computer science in 1985. She retired from active teaching and research in 1998 as professor emerita. Conway began publicly discussing her gender transition in 1999 and was a transgender rights activist until her death in 2024.