The 12th of October marks the annual Ada Lovelace Day, a celebration championing the achievements of women in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM).
Her full name is Augusta Ada King, Countess of Lovelace – born Byron (Lord Byron’s only child in wedlock) in 1815 in England. Lady Wentworth, her mother, insisted she should be taught mathematics and sciences thoroughly, which became a passion of hers at an early age.
She is known today as the first ever computer programmer, recognizing before anyone else the potential of computer machines beyond pure calculations. The vision she created for a machine was rather anticipated as it could also process musical notes, letters, images predicting by a hundred years modern computers.
She has written the world’s first algorithm for Charles Babbage Analytical Engine during the 1840’s, an early computing machine that existed only on paper. The Ada Programming Language was named after her when its initial versions emerged in the 1980’s.
Today, all around the world, Ada Lovelace inspires women to join the community of programming, and encouraging a lasting legacy of the importance of female diversity. Yet the numbers are far from being equal : there were one million women in STEM roles in 2020, representing only 24% of the entire workforce in the field (according to The Guardian).
To celebrate this day and encourage more young women to join the industry, some events have occurred, like at the Institution of Engineering and Technology’s, an Engineering school in the UK. Six young female engineers have been announced as finalists for the Young Woman Engineer Award 2021.
Influential women in the tech industry are therefore talking about how important this day is. For example Sofia Ceppi, Research Lead at Secondmind, says that Ada Lovelace’s work reminds us we should ‘Not see the STEM world as one just for men… women must be shown the possibilities for them in STEM without bias.’
The Girl Up team hopes this is one among the many women who can inspire you.
Article by Juliette Blanca