Cheers to Ada Lovelace, Victorian Women-in-STEM Heroine
In DepthToday is Ada Lovelace Day. Shout out to Ada Lovelace.
The day, which honors women in science generally, is named after Lovelace because she was a groundbreaking thinker and is often considered the world’s first computer programmer. (Unfortunately, they didn’t have computers yet.) You can read more about her life story at Atlas Obscura; coincidentally, she almost shares a birthdate with the twentieth century’s Grace Hopper, another pioneering female figure in the history of computer science.
Lovelace was born in 1815, the year before Mary Shelley—while holed up with Percy Shelley and Lovelace’s dirtbag father, Lord Byron—began working on Frankenstein, a cornerstone of the science fiction genre. Consider them as raised middle fingers to any man who has ever doubted a woman’s scientific abilities or geeky inclinations.
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