Today I’m thinking about my older sister, an electrical engineer and all-around brilliant person who influenced me hugely growing up. I owe a lot of my geeky interests to her. So, sis, happy Ada Lovelace Day!
Who is your heroine?
Do you remember which women have influenced you over the years?
Perhaps your maths teacher, one of your university lecturers, or a colleague?
This Ada Lovelace Day on October 7, share your story about a woman — whether an engineer, a scientist, a technologist or mathematician — who has inspired you to become who you are today. Write a blog post, record a podcast, film a video, draw a comic, or pick any other way to talk about the women who have been guiding lights in your life. Give your heroine the credit she deserves!
Who was Ada? Ada Lovelace, AKA Augusta Ada King, Countess of Lovelace (10 December 1815 – 27 November 1852) was one of the world’s first computer programmers, and one of the first people to see computers as more than just a machine for doing sums. She wrote programs for Charles Babbage’s Analytical Engine, a general-purpose computing machine, despite the fact that it was never built. She also wrote the very first description of a computer and of software.
If you do anything at all this Ada Day, you have to check out Adafruit Industries‘ coverage of the event, as they mark each hour with a post describing another brilliant woman. If you have a daughter, niece, little sister, or heck, know anyone male or female who might be interested in technology, introduce them to these awesome role models. Plus, if you use the code ADA11 you can get 10% off at the Adafruit Store.
Please leave a comment describing your favorite woman engineer, programmer, technologist, hacker, mathematician, teacher, or whomever has influenced you with her love for technology!
22 thoughts on “Happy Ada Lovelace Day!”
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It’s Ada Lovelace, not Loveless. Someone might have loved her, poor thing.
There’s a funny story there, when I was on Citadel BBSes 20 years ago, one of my online friends was a poet who called himself Loveless in reference to Lord Byron. Brain fart!
Lovelace.
I always enjoy Ada Lovelace Day — Another Lovelace in history and seeing my ancestors appreciated for her talents!!
Go Ada Lovelace!!
@facebook-1172364892:disqus wow! can you email me? i’d love to know more about what / how your family celebrates and is related to ada lovelace pt @ makezine d0t com
I always enjoy Ada Lovelace Day — Another Lovelace in history and seeing my ancestors appreciated for her talents!!
Go Ada Lovelace!!
Quite an inspiration – I nearly missed this (thank you Anna for the reminder..!)! If only Ada, the language, was in more general use. We’d have hardly any blue-screens-of-death or spinning beach balls or, for that matter, jobs for IT support people.
It’s funny how aeroplanes are considered important enough to have their control systems written in Ada – but not commercial systems. Very odd, really, you’d have thought that companies would be concerned about availability… just a tiny bit.
I find it very baffling that Ada Lovelace Day is celebrated on (what seems to me to be) the arbitrary date of October 7th when her birthday was December 10th. Is there some good reason why they picked today, or should I ignore this event and continue — as I usually do — to celebrate on 10 December?
Leah Beuchley of MIT has been incredibly inspirational to me as a crafter and budding e-textiles fangirl and arduinophile. I took a workshop with her recently and I was just in awe of everything Leah does. The fact she’s also a fabulous teacher is the icing on top.
What? No mention of 2D Goggles? http://sydneypadua.com/2dgoggles/
What? No mention of 2D Goggles? http://sydneypadua.com/2dgoggles/