01 April 2013

Computerized Matchmaking ca. 1965

My alma mater, Oberlin College, was the first co-educational college in the nation and also one of the first to have co-ed dorms.  When I was there, our dorm had co-ed bathrooms and showers (not unlikely the fictional college in the movie "Pitch Perfect"). 

So, perhaps it is not surprising that it was also a pioneer in computerized match making with freshman Paul Lewis operating a computer dating systems  off the college's mainframe computer back in April of 1965 (47 years ago) when the data input method of choice was still punch cards. 

The service didn't last, but Oberlin still has a very high percentage of graduates who end up marrying each other (now in both opposite sex and same sex unions), although I couldn't find a precise figure easily at hand.

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