Geek Girl History Lesson: Ada Lovelace

GeekSugar — Fri, 23 May 2008 10:06:25 -0700

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!

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