{{Short description|Computer programmer and mountaineer}} {{Use mdy dates|date=September 2025}} {{Infobox person | birth_date = {{Birth year|1932}} | birth_place = Dalian, China | death_date = {{Death date and age|1978|10|17|1932||}} | death_place = Annapurna I, Nepal | death_cause = Fall | occupation = Computer programmer | employer = IBM Research | organization = American Women's Himalayan Expedition | known_for = First woman's solo climb of Aconcagua | spouse = John McCarthy }}
'''Vera Watson''' (1932 – October 17, 1978) was an American computer programmer, mountaineer and rock climber who made the first woman's solo climb of Aconcagua, the highest mountain in the Americas. She also made several first ascents in the Kenai Mountains in Alaska. She was a member of the successful first all-women team to climb Annapurna, but was killed along with her climbing partner Alison Chadwick-Onyszkiewicz while preparing to attempt the unclimbed central summit of the mountain.
== Biography == Watson was born in Dalian, China into a Russian family. The city had long had a Russian influence as the former Russian Dalian. She lived in China until the 1950s, when her parents relocated to Brazil.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |title=AAC Publications - Vera Watson, 1932 – 1978 |url=https://publications.americanalpineclub.org/articles/12197934500 |access-date=2025-04-14 |website=publications.americanalpineclub.org |archive-date=2025-04-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250414150949/https://publications.americanalpineclub.org/articles/12197934500 |url-status=live }}</ref> She later emigrated to England and then the United States.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The 1995 SQL Reunion: People, Projects, and Politics - Vera Watson |url=https://www.mcjones.org/System_R/SQL_Reunion_95/sqlr95-Vera.html |access-date=2025-04-14 |website=www.mcjones.org}}</ref> Her background helped her become adept at languages. Watson would later be hired at IBM in Yorktown, New York when IBM research was looking for someone with Russian language skills.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The 1995 SQL Reunion: People, Projects, and Politics - Vera Watson |url=https://www.mcjones.org/System_R/SQL_Reunion_95/sqlr95-Vera.html |access-date=2025-04-14 |website=www.mcjones.org |archive-date=2025-04-23 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250423024927/https://www.mcjones.org/System_R/SQL_Reunion_95/sqlr95-Vera.html |url-status=live }}</ref>
In her thirties, Watson began mountain and rock climbing. First she climbed close to home, in the Shawangunk Ridge and on Mount Washington.<ref name=":0" />
Watson later moved from Yorktown to work at IBM Research in San Jose, California in 1973.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite web |title=The 1995 SQL Reunion: People, Projects, and Politics - Vera Watson |url=https://www.mcjones.org/System_R/SQL_Reunion_95/sqlr95-Vera.html |access-date=2025-04-14 |website=www.mcjones.org |archive-date=2025-04-23 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250423024927/https://www.mcjones.org/System_R/SQL_Reunion_95/sqlr95-Vera.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-07-26 |title=50 Years of Queries – Communications of the ACM |url=https://cacm.acm.org/research/50-years-of-queries/ |access-date=2025-04-14 |language=en-US}}</ref> She was initially active in machine translation, before moving into database management system design. She worked on System R, which was the first implementation of SQL, a standardized database query language which has since become a dominant standard.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|url=https://www.mcjones.org/System_R/SQL_Reunion_95/sqlr95-Vera.html|title=The 1995 SQL Reunion: People, Projects, and Politics - Vera Watson|website=www.mcjones.org|access-date=2019-10-30|archive-date=2021-03-08|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210308054700/https://www.mcjones.org/System_R/SQL_Reunion_95/sqlr95-Vera.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>Astrahan, Morton & Blasgen, Mike & Chamberlin, Donald & Eswaran, Kapali & Gray, Jim & Griffiths, Patricia & III, W. & Lorie, Raymond & McJones, Paul & Mehl, James & Putzolu, Gianfranco & Traiger, Irving & Wade, Bradford & Watson, Vera. (1976). [https://www.researchgate.net/publication/220225062_System_R_Relational_Approach_to_Database_Management/citation/download System R: Relational Approach to Database Management] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230608014435/https://www.researchgate.net/publication/220225062_System_R_Relational_Approach_to_Database_Management/citation/download |date=2023-06-08 }}. ACM Trans. Database Syst.. 1. 97-137. 10.1145/320455.320457.</ref> Watson was married to John McCarthy, a pioneer in the discipline of artificial intelligence and creator of the Lisp programming language.<ref name=":1" />
After moving to the western United States, Watson continued climbing and mountaineering on bigger peaks and soon started expedition climbing. In 1974, she took leave without pay from IBM to make the first woman's solo attempt on Aconcagua.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last=Allen|first=Fran|date=1979|title=Vera Watson, 1932 - 1978|url=http://publications.americanalpineclub.org/articles/12197934500/Vera-Watson-1932-1975|journal=American Alpine Journal|pages=345–347|archive-date=2019-10-30|access-date=2019-10-30|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191030022713/http://publications.americanalpineclub.org/articles/12197934500/Vera-Watson-1932-1975|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=":1" /> That year she would also climb Mount Robson and make some first ascents in the Kenai Range.<ref name=":0" />
=== Annapurna climb === In 1978, Watson joined the American Women's Himalayan Expedition to climb Annapurna alongside her IBM colleague Irene Beardsley.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/annapurnawomansp00blum_0|title=Annapurna, a woman's place|last1=Blum|first1=Arlene; foreword by Maurice Herzog|date=1998|publisher=Sierra Club Books|isbn=1-57805-022-7|edition=20th anniversary|location=San Francisco|url-access=registration}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Newman |first=Bruce |date=2014-01-14 |title=Bay Area sent two women on first climb to the top of the world. Another never came back. |url=https://www.mercurynews.com/2014/01/14/bay-area-sent-two-women-on-first-climb-to-the-top-of-the-world-another-never-came-back/ |access-date=2025-04-14 |website=The Mercury News |language=en-US |archive-date=2025-04-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250414150948/https://www.mercurynews.com/2014/01/14/bay-area-sent-two-women-on-first-climb-to-the-top-of-the-world-another-never-came-back/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Robinson |first=Ruth |date=1977-10-10 |title=A Team of American Women Seeks to Scale Nepal's Heights |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1977/10/10/archives/a-team-of-american-women-seeks-to-scale-nepals-heights.html |access-date=2025-04-14 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=2025-04-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250414150948/https://www.nytimes.com/1977/10/10/archives/a-team-of-american-women-seeks-to-scale-nepals-heights.html |url-status=live }}</ref> At the time, the first women's expedition made headlines. Watson shared, "Once we've done it, I think other women will take more initiative to get into mixed teams and become more aggressive about organizing their own expeditions".<ref>{{Cite news |last=Knickerbocker |first=Brad |date=February 22, 1978 |title=All-woman team of Yanks will take on Annapurna |url=https://www.newspaperarchive.com/us/illinois/arlington-heights/arlington-heights-daily-herald-suburban-chicago/1978/02-22/page-13 |work=Arlington Heights Daily Herald Suburban Chicago Newspaper Archives |pages=13 |via=Newspaper Archive}}</ref>
On October 17, 1978 while roped to climbing partner Alison Chadwick-Onyszkiewicz, the pair slipped near Camp V and fell to their deaths.<ref name=":2" /><ref>{{Cite web |title=The HJ/38/8 WOMEN ON ANNAPURNA |url=https://www.himalayanclub.org/hj/38/8/women-on-annapurna/ |access-date=2025-04-14 |website=The HJ/38/8 WOMEN ON ANNAPURNA |language=en}}</ref> Watson was 46 years old. At the time of her death, her husband made a statement, “She was a woman with a taste for achievement, and I encouraged her to make this ascent.”<ref>{{Cite journal |last=McCorduck |first=Pamela |date=2019-10-01 |title=A Turning Point |url=https://pressbooks.pub/thiscouldbeimportantbook/chapter/a-turning-point/ |language=en}}</ref>
== See also == * American Women's Himalayan Expedition
== References == <references />
== External links == * {{Citation | url = https://exhibits.stanford.edu/ai/catalog/vc718rv0318 | title = Reflections on trip to Nepal. Audio recording, part 1. | publisher = John McCarthy papers, Department of Special Collections and University Archives | place = Stanford University | last = Watson | first = Vera}}. * {{Citation | url = https://exhibits.stanford.edu/ai/catalog/gm309hm3001 | title = Reflections on trip to Nepal. Audio recording, part 2. | publisher = John McCarthy papers, Department of Special Collections and University Archives | place = Stanford University | last = Watson | first = Vera}}. * {{Citation | url = https://exhibits.stanford.edu/ai/catalog/mf540gj8707 | title = Reflections on trip to Nepal. Audio recording, part 3. | publisher = John McCarthy papers, Department of Special Collections and University Archives | place = Stanford University | last = Watson | first = Vera}}. * {{Citation | url = https://exhibits.stanford.edu/ai/catalog/rq045qr7075 | title = Reflections on trip to Nepal. Audio recording, part 4. | publisher = John McCarthy papers, Department of Special Collections and University Archives | place = Stanford University | last = Watson | first = Vera}}. * [https://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/ft0p30021x/entire_text/ American Women's Himalayan Expedition, Inc. : files, 1974-1984], Online Archive of California *[http://aac-publications.s3.amazonaws.com/documents/aaj/1979/PDF/AAJ_1979_22_1_345.pdf Picture and obituary.]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Watson, Vera}} Category:American female climbers Category:Mountaineering deaths in Nepal Category:1932 births Category:1978 deaths Category:Deaths on Annapurna Category:20th-century American sportswomen Category:People from Dalian Category:American women computer scientists