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, known as the earliest computer programmer, has been recognized annually on October 15th to highlight the contributions of women to math and …
Sometimes I imagine bringing people like da Vinci and Lovelace into the future to see what is possible now. I wonder what they would say about our tech and especially how we are using it.
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
The president of Harvard University has provoked a furore by arguing that men outperform women in maths and sciences because of biological difference, and discrimination is no longer a career barrier for female academics.
@franktaber This is so disturbing. I’m very conscious how important it is that education is a lifelong thing. The problem is there are so many barriers and when governments are pursuing deeply destabilising policies like in the UK education gets ignored. In fact arguably education is being looked at but in the most narrow of ways. We are becoming a deeply divided society and women are absolutely ending up far less able to participate in discussions in this area.
25 years ago in Romania's Polytechnic University Computer Science department, considered the best and the toughest in the country, there were 9 women out of 350 students in the year. Today there are more women than men there.
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!
can it be argued that many males attracted to computing are socially stunted, threatened by women of equal or superior intelligence, need to achieve "status" by belittling them? Classic incel behavior? I know, not all men, but at the undergrad level perhaps, it is many?
up until at least the 1960s women were extremely well represented in computer departments in both government and commerce as it was seen as an extension of clerical work and the original "computers" (clerks doing mathematical computations) were largely women. See also Admiral Grace Hopper and Margaret Hamilton.
there is a magnificent graphic novel about Ada (and Charles Babbage) called The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage: The (Mostly) True Story of the First Computer by Sydney Padua. Check it out
And don't forget Admiral Grace Hopper who developed COBOL and many of the techniques used to write programs. And she logged the very first bug! (It was a real one.)
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.
I'm a big fan of Ada Lovelace. That's a stunning portrait of her too! Her biography is fascinating; she and Babbage were also trying to use the Difference Engine to predict the outcomes of horse races! Such a tragically short life.
Milla Havanka
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum • • •NerdGirlInVR 💜🇺🇸🌎🐘💜
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum • • •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
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum • • •David Nissen
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum • • •Ulf Dittmer
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 • • •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 :verified:
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 • • •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
https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/2018/10/22/why-the-future-isnt-female-in-computing
Why the future isn’t female in computing
The EconomistFrank T
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum • • •Sheril Kirshenbaum
in reply to Frank T • • •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. https://www.theguardian.com/science/2005/jan/18/educationsgendergap.genderissues
Why women are poor at science, by Harvard president
Suzanne Goldenberg (The Guardian)Frank T
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum • • •CarolineCherry
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum • • •Boris Barbour
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum • • •^ 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 • • •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 • • •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 • • •https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mileva_Mari%C4%87
"another.." 🙈 😁^^
Serbian mathematician and wife of Albert Einstein
Contributors to Wikimedia projects (Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.)Aho
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum • • •sentient water
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum • • •Mary Austin
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum • • •Nick Strugnell
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum • • •Céa
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum • • •Great woman.
Nvida even named a gpu after er iirc
Chris_Swan
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum • • •Pete Batchelor
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum • • •Martyn Winters // Marrick
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum • • •Vinny R
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum • • •HLGEM
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum • • •Jaime Robertson
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum • • •“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.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_(occupation)
occupation
Contributors to Wikimedia projects (Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.)OldAndCrankyForHarrisAndWalz!
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 • • •BTW Ada was born Ada Byron, a daughter of Lord Byron, the poet - his only legitimate progeny (if that matters).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ada_(programming_language)
programming language
Contributors to Wikimedia projects (Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.)Eva Chanda
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum • • •