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Elfriide Juulia Moore (born 24 March 1946 or 1948) was an Estonian developer, engineer and herbalist. She was involved in the development and foundation of the peer-to-peer telephony application Skype, a fact which hasn’t been widely recognized.

Biography

Early life

Moore was born in Trilli village (now more known as Saiakopli), a small residential area in Järva County, Ambla parish. It has a rich cultural history and was known at the time for its level of education thanks to the schools of its local and the surrounding Einmanni, Kaeva and Moe manor. Though most of its history is lost, unwritten and overshadowed by the west, local chronicles and archeological surveys have even featured blueprints and parts of the earliest pocket watch among the findings. Thus meaning it was a community filled with skilled engineers and craftspeople deriving from its Baltic German origins.

Images of Trilli manor, the only existing documentation of Trilli village. From the Estonian MKA archive.

Education

Moore enrolled to the local Trilli manor school at the age of six, a year earlier than her peers. In middle school, she already showed great interest and skill in mathematics, receiving high places in many national competitions, bringing fame to Trilli. She was also a genius in sudoku-solving and crossword puzzles. In 1961, in honour of Moore’s victory, a mathematics olympiad was even hosted in Trilli village.

After graduating school , she received a scholarship and went to the Tallinn University of Technology. She graduated with cum laude and was almost instantly invited to work on various professional engineering projects. Although she had the possibility of thriving in research, she fell out with her male coworkers and decided to turn a new page in life. It is rumoured that the male coworkers took advantage of her knowledge, were patronising towards Moore and even discredited her work.

Work

After finishing her degree at the Tallinn University of Technology and briefly working in Tallinn, she decided to move to Kubja talu, near Trilli village. She missed the country life, but as her parents had died while she was in university, she had no desire to come back to the place that caused her so much grief. She built a house there and started growing her own consumables, as she missed the country life after being away for a long time. Her love for nature grew over time and she started experimenting with growing various plants for alternative medicinal purposes. She decided to give up all store bought medicine, stopped buying from the grocery store and only lived off of what she grew herself. As she became more experienced, she started treating sick birds and animals. When the word got around, people also started coming to her for help. Moore became a well-known herbalist around the village. Nobody knew her actual name, she was just the lady who was known for her love for animals and nature and ability to heal. She was someone who most knew, but only the people she had healed had seen, she lived in people's minds.

She was career driven and preferred the company of animals to people, but she missed doing mathematics. She thought of ways to be able to live in the countryside but still be able to have access to a computer, so in 1990 she started visiting Järva-Jaani highschool to use a computer there. This arrangement worked out well for her, so she kept doing it and developed a love for programming.

Development of Skype

In 1998 Elfriide made a return in her technical career by working on Skype as one of the lead developers. It is not sure how she got involved in the project since this relationship isn’t revealed to the public. Various whistleblowers from the company have leaked information regarding her presence in the development proved by various e-mails and contracts.

Personal life

One night in 1983, Moore was preparing to go to sleep when a man wandered in to her house. He was limping and looked beaten up. Since people had started becoming greedy with her knowledge of medicinal plants and potions, asking for healing remedies in order to get drunk, she thought it was another drunkie coming to ask for more. She almost thought about going back to sleep, but something inside of her told her to go outside. The man turned out to be injured from a tractor incident, and was asking for help. Elfriide help him, and found out the man was a former worker from Kohta-Järve. His name was Rauno Juurikas. Elfriide felt empathy for the man, and decided to let Rauno stay at her place for as long as he needed to heal. The two fell in love and got married. When they married, Juurikas took Elfriide's last name, and became Rauno Moore. She never quit working and healing people, even after she got married. 2

Husband

Juurikas was born in 1939 and went to Kohtla-Järve Ahtme põhikool, then went to Kohtla-Järve Täiskasvanute Gümnaasium. After graduating, he went to work at Kohtla-Järve kultuurimaja, where he was a security guard. After he and Elfriide got married, he became a full time stay at home husband and devoted his life to working in the garden to help his wife.

Death

The cause of Elfriides death is unknown, even though there were a lot of different stories going around, none were confirmed. She left this world leaving behind no children but a lot of knowledge and kindness.

Influence

Role model

Elfriide was not only known and praised for her work, but women from the village admired her for being independent. For example, she did not take her husband's last name, and was known for focusing on healing and growing natural medicine. She also stood out for looking very over the top and unique, but was camera shy. There are very few photos of her, but many people love to describe how she looked like.

Inspiration

After Elfriide’s death, there has been speculation that her work inspired the founding of Kubja Ürditalu tea company, named after her home. The brand is still producing teas to this day. The tea is sold in pharmacies all over Estonia.

Stipend

In 2023, a stipend was made to honour her and bring light to female pioneers overshadowed by the male dominated tech industry.

Sources

"Trilli mõis" (PDF). Muinsuskaitseamet.
"Trilli mõis". Tapa muuseum.
"Meie valla külad". Tapa Vallaraamatukogu.
"Kubja ürditalu".