In pop culture, computing & programming are often depicted with “tech bros.” But the first computer programmer was a brilliant woman.
Augusta “Ada” Lovelace was born in 1815. Her notes include an algorithm designed to be carried out by a machine & she envisioned that computers could go beyond calculations. Lovelace described “how individuals & society relate to technology as a collaborative tool.”
Lovelace passed away in 1852 at just 36. newyorker.com/tech/annals-of-t… #HistoryRemix #history #science
Ada Lovelace, the First Tech Visionary
Lovelace, known as the earliest computer programmer, has been recognized annually on October 15th to highlight the contributions of women to math and …Betsy Morais (The New Yorker)
This entry was edited (2 years ago)
Milla Havanka
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum • • •NerdGirlInVR 💜🇺🇸🌎🐘💜
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum • • •Here's a video I recorded at the #ComputerHistoryMuseum back in 2014 on #GoogleGlass.
The "Babbage Analytical Engine" demonstrated. This is one of two in existence, on loan at the time to the CPH in #MountainView The other's in London.
Beautiful piece of machinery, should be named for Lovelace. 💜
oneguynick
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum • • •Yves Garenne
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in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum • • •2015 graphic novel written by Sydney Padua
Contributors to Wikimedia projects (Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.)holothuroid
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum • • •Company required all office rooms being named after towns. We chose Lovelace and Turing.
Lovelace was easy. She's the Countess of Lovelace after all. Turing, we could show, is a place in Indonesia.
Tom Barkas
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum • • •Zuma Payload
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum • • •What a tragic, lovely, beautiful and most of all brilliant woman!
Joe Peacock
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum • • •Wise by asking why, by Joe Peacock
Joe PeacockSheril Kirshenbaum
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum • • •Ada Lovelace demonstrates that women are just as capable at excellence in computing as their male counterparts.
However, men are more likely to “feel they belong than women” (see link). And the share of bachelor’s degrees in computing awarded to women has halved since 1985.
Anecdotally, my female friends in computer science have experienced bullying & harassment, or been ignored & overlooked. /2
economist.com/graphic-detail/2…
Why the future isn’t female in computing
The EconomistBoris Barbour
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum • • •@sheri
^ the differences between maths/chemistry vs. physics/computing/engineering are striking.
BrainPilgrim
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum • • •Dulce Maria
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum • • •iar81b
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum • • •HLGEM
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum • • •I was a data analyst. So very much bullying and harassment and just plain old being told you were stupid or men stealing your ideas. So very much. I remember one man (he was also the system admin) actually breaking into my computer on weekends and deliberately breaking my code. And the company chose to ignore it when I gave them proof. I left shortly thereafter.
And far lower pay. And of course, I was in the data ghetto with many women because men weren't interested in the data just the interface. Never mind that the business needed the data!
When We Vote We Win
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum • • •Nicole Parsons
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum • • •A common practice: assigning tasks late in the day for completion before staff can go home.
If you're a woman who needs to pick children up at daycare, this practice precludes you.
Another practice is top schools like MIT require all-nighters and weekend work as part of their work culture.
It's the same strategy that kept women out of medical schools for decades. Long hours left out the less privileged.
Schlüssellochkind 👁️
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum • • •There was another one, who was important for Albert Einstein, to get his famous theory!
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mileva_M…
"another.." 🙈 😁^^
Serbian mathematician and wife of Albert Einstein
Contributors to Wikimedia projects (Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.)Sheril Kirshenbaum
Unknown parent • • •@franktaber Culture.
It’s also interesting that the early 2000s dip coincides with then-Harvard president Lawrence Summers’ infamous comments about women being biologically inferior at math & science. theguardian.com/science/2005/j…
Why women are poor at science, by Harvard president
Suzanne Goldenberg (The Guardian)Aho
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in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum • • •HLGEM
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum • • •Jaime Robertson
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum • • •Also good to remember that the word Computer was used to refer to people:
“Teams of people, often women from the late nineteenth century onwards, were used to undertake long and often tedious calculations”
Then many of these women transitioned into programming.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer…
occupation
Contributors to Wikimedia projects (Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.)OldAndCranky
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum • • •CarolineCherry
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum • • •Eric the half-a-bee
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum • • •Such a tragically short life.
Bunnii 🏳️⚧️
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum • • •jackLondon
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum • • •There is a programming language named in her honour
BTW Ada was born Ada Byron, a daughter of Lord Byron, the poet - his only legitimate progeny (if that matters).
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ada_(pro…
programming language
Contributors to Wikimedia projects (Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.)Eva Chanda
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum • • •