I hope you didn't feel discouraged about being a girl geek by that article awhile back that reported women find technology jobs boring. Buck up, you — not only do you have geeksugar here at your service, there are plenty of fabulous precedents for you like Google's Marissa Mayer, Lifehacker founder and coder Gina Trapani, and a 19th-century girl geek: Ada Lovelace.
Born in 1815 in London, Ada Lovelace is known as the first programmer. Taught to love mathematics by her mother from a young age, she would later write what was known as the world's first computer program for Charles Babbage's, "analytical engine" — a general purpose, early computer.
To this day, Lovelace is remembered as the first coder and has received a few tributes: the computer language Ada is named for her, her picture is on Microsoft's holographic authenticity stickers, and The British Computer Society awards a medal to female computer science students in her name.
Thanks for representing, Ada!
Laura Biagiotti
House of Fraser
Satellite
Wonder if my husband's heard of her. She sounds amazing!
1i'm a nerd! computer engineering and IT for life.
i
2This is great post geek! I always found the most interesting fact about Ada was not just that she was the first computer programmer, but she programmed a computer that wasn't even built yet! It was later after computers were built, people went back and tested her programs and found that they worked!
3She also is credited with inventing the concept of recursion in programming.
4I feel smart cause I knew this already
5thanks for the history lesson. i'm not a programmer so i've never heard of her. how proud i am to get this history lesson!
6She sounds like a fun old-timey geek!
7Let us not forget that her last name was Byron, she was a daughter of Lord Byron, the famous poet.
8She was bled to death at the age of 36 by her physicians, who were trying to cure her uterine cancer
Ada is one of my favorite people in history. She's such an inspiration
9I suddenly have an idea on what to name my first child (if that ever comes around)
10One time my mom was like "Oh dear you have such talent for math, I wish you'd pick a career that would put that to use". And I was like "But mom... Computer Science IS about math!!" And then I showed her how computer programming dated back to the XIX Century and how the first programmer was a lady and she was absolutely stunned! I think she finally respects my choice now LOL
11The 1997 movie "Conceiving Ada" is about her (sort of). I stumbled upon it a couple of years ago. It isn't the greatest movie, but I enjoyed it and it has always stood out in my memory. Stars Tilda Swinton as Ada Augusta Byron King, Countess of Lovelace.
12Post New Comment
Please share your opinion with our community, but make sure it is on topic and follows our Community Rules. We moderate comments and prohibit personal attacks, threats, spam, lewd images, or the promotion of your personal website.