The 14th of October is Ada Lovelace day, an international celebration of the achievements of women in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM). The day also aims to raise the profile of women in STEM and in doing so, hopefully create new role models within these fields.
Who was Ada?
Ada Lovelace was born Ada Gordon in 1815, the only child of Romantic poet Lord Byron and his wife Annabella Milbanke. She is considered by many to be the world’s first computer programmer, having written the first algorithm intended to be processed by a machine – Charles Babbage’s analytical engine. Charles Babbage called her “the Enchantress of Numbers”. Find out more about Ada Lovelace here.
Some ideas on how to find out more and get involved:
In March this year as part of an NPR special series on women in tech, women innovators across the globe live tweeted their days using #NPRWIT. Some women involved included a master inventor from IBM and a technology executive from American Express. Check out what they had to say.
Glamour magazine recently profiled 35 women under 35 who are changing the tech industry. Have a read and get inspired.
As part of Ada Lovelace Day 2012, Wikimedia UK held a Women in Science themed Wikipedia edit-a-thon. Why not have your own edit-a-thon? Have a look at the Women in technology and Women scientists categories on Wikipedia and see if there are any articles you think need editing, or even any you think are missing and want to add.
Share a story about a woman, or women in STEM whose achievements you admire, and read other people’s stories.
And, why not leave us a comment? We’d love to hear about the women in STEM who inspire you.
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Lizzie Brown, CEO of ‘Engineers Without Borders’ is a 2014 winner of the 100 Women of Influence Awards. You can see more about Lizzie here: http://www.ewb.org.au/announcements/639/11449