Today, October 16, is Ada Lovelace Day, a day to celebrate women’s achievements in the STEM fields (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math).
In 2009, a group called Finding Ada started a petition on the PledgeBank website, calling for a day of blogging about women’s achievements in STEM. The group called out the lack of role models and examples of women’s successes as one of the biggest obstacles to increasing women and girls’ participation in STEM. Fitting for a group devoted to science, the organizers had scientific evidence to back up their argument: psychological studies have shown that is more important and helpful for women to have female role models than for men to have male role models.
As psychologist Penelope Lockwood, a member of the founding group and an author of studies on women in STEM said, “Outstanding women can function as inspirational examples of success, illustrating the kinds of achievements that are possible for women around them. They demonstrate that it is possible to overcome traditional gender barriers, indicating to other women that high levels of success are indeed attainable.”
With that guiding philosophy, Finding Ada launched a publicity campaign to showcase women with successful STEM careers. While many people might cite the low rate of women’s participation in STEM as a cause for a dearth of female role models, the charter members of Finding Ada knew better. As successful STEM professionals themselves, they recognized that there are plenty of unsung success stories to be shared and tons of role models waiting to be discovered. Finding Ada pinpointed their objective: identify these accomplished women, increase their visibility, show the world the diverse spectrum of successful women in STEM disciplines, and inspire women.
Ada Lovelace, the English mathematician and writer that the group picked as their namesake is one of the world’s earliest women STEM pioneers and among the most inspiring. Lovelace’s most famous work was creating an algorithm for Charles Babbage’s “analytical engine,” which is widely regarded as the first model for a computer. Lovelace’s algorithm, written to be processed by Babbage’s machine, is history’s very first computer program. A woman far ahead of her time, Lovelace wrote her code in the 1840s. She also recognized the potential power of “analytical engine” that eluded everyone else in her era, even the machine’s creator. While Babbage saw the machine as merely a type of calculator, Lovelace could envision far more creative functions using more abstract mathematical operations. “Supposing, for instance,” she wrote, “that the fundamental relations of pitched sounds in the science of harmony and of musical composition were susceptible of such expression and adaptations, the engine might compose elaborate and scientific pieces of music of any degree of complexity or extent.” While Babbage could only picture his theoretical machine solving math problems, Lovelace foresaw computer programs that would compose complex music.
A century after she wrote them, Lovelace’s notes became integral in Alan Turning’s work developing the first modern computers in the 1940s. Now, nearly every day, we all interact with computer programs and algorithms—Lovelace’s legacy, but very few people know about her work. Finding Ada chose to illuminate Lovelace because of her innovative vision and massive contribution to the foundation of modern technology. Discovering her story is an electrifying inspiration for women in tech, especially in consideration of the infamously male-dominated culture of computer sciences today.
While her contributions were certainly singular, Lovelace’s story of relative obscurity is not unique. Many contributions by women to STEM fields throughout history and presently are overlooked, overshadowed, or unknown. Using Lovelace’s poignant example, Finding Ada hopes to collect stories and information about STEM women and spread them around the world to inspire new generations of women STEM professionals. In this, the event’s fourth year, the group has organized large events on three continents and the internet and hopes to expand even further in years to come. To learn more or contribute your own stories about women in STEM, visit http://findingada.com/.
Ada Lovelace
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