by Sarah Bender
The Carnegie Mellon University Libraries community was saddened to hear that Julia Parsons, a 1942 general studies graduate of Margaret Morrison Carnegie College and US Navy code breaker during World War II, passed away on April 18, 2025 at the age of 104 years old.
In recent years, many at Carnegie Mellon had the chance to engage with Parsons and learn firsthand about her historic accomplishments. In 2018, she recorded an interview for the University Archives' Oral History Program with former archivist Katherine Barbara. In her Oral History, Parsons reflected on her education at the Carnegie Institute of Technology and her wartime service deciphering German messages encrypted with the Enigma machine.
That same year, Parsons also visited CMU’s Special Collections to view two authentic Enigma machines — just like the ones she had used during the war. These historic artifacts are part of the Traub-McCorduck Collection, donated by author and generous friend to CMU, Pamela McCorduck. Parsons’ encounter with the machines was a poignant reunion with the tools of her legacy.
Later that day, Parsons took part in a campus panel event, “From Enigma to AI: The Legacy of Pamela McCorduck & Joseph Traub at CMU.” Moderated by Helen and Henry Posner, Jr. Dean of University Libraries Keith Webster, the panel focused on the academic achievements and philanthropic highlights of McCorduck and her husband, former Computer Science Department Head Joseph Traub. During the discussion, Parsons shared how her work with the Enigma machines helped accelerate the end of the war and opened the door for future generations of women in technology and security.
For more tributes to Parsons, see the New York Times obituary and the Today Show on NBC’s “Life Well Lived” segment.