John W. Tukey, Bell Labs - In the January 1958 American Mathematical Monthly.

The term software
The term software
John W. Tukey in the January 1958 American Mathematical Monthly.

The term software
John W. Tukey.
The term "software", which Paul Niquette claims he coined in 1953, was first published in the January 1958 American Mathematical Monthly.

Titled "The Teaching of Concrete Mathematics," Tukey's article contains the following passage:
Today the "software" comprising the carefully planned interpretive routines, compilers, and other aspects of automative programming are at least as important to the modern electronic calculator as its "hardware" of tubes, transistors, wires, tapes and the like.

John Wilder Tukey was a chemist-turned-topologist-turned statistician. He played a significant role in the development and study of statistics in the mid XX century. The field of statistics has benefited tremendously from his contributions.
J. W. Tukey was born on July 16, 1915, in New Bedford, Massachusetts. He was the only child of Ralph H. and Adah M. Tukey. Tukey studied mathematics and chemistry.
Tukey coined many statistical terms that are now part of common usage, but the two most famous words attributed to him were related to computer science.
While working with John von Neumann, Tukey introduced the word "bit" as a contraction of "BInary digiT". The term "bit" was first used in an article by Claude Shannon in 1948.

The word ‘‘software’’ suggests that there is a single entity, separate from the computer’s hardware, that works with the hardware to solve a problem. In fact, there is no such single entity. A computer system is like an onion, with many distinct layers of software over a hardware core. Even at the center—the level of the central processor—there is no clear distinction: computer chips carrying ‘‘microcode’’ direct other chips to perform the processor’s most basic operations. Engineers call these codes ‘‘firmware,’’ a term that suggests the blurred distinction.

Today the 'software' comprising the carefully planned interpretive routines, compilers, and other aspects of automative programming are at least as important to the modern electronic calculator as its 'hardware' of tubes, transistors, wires, tapes and the like"
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