Mastodawn

Sheril Kirshenbaum

In pop culture, computing & programming are often depicted with “tech bros.” But the first computer programmer was a brilliant woman.

Augusta “Ada” Lovelace was born in 1815. Her notes include an algorithm designed to be carried out by a machine & she envisioned that computers could go beyond calculations. Lovelace described “how individuals & society relate to technology as a collaborative tool.”

Lovelace passed away in 1852 at just 36. https://www.newyorker.com/tech/annals-of-technology/ada-lovelace-the-first-tech-visionary #HistoryRemix #history #science

Ada Lovelace, the First Tech Visionary

Lovelace, known as the first computer programmer, has been recognized annually to highlight the often overlooked contributions of women to math and science.

The New Yorker

Sheril Kirshenbaum Jan 16, 2023

Ada Lovelace demonstrates that women are just as capable at excellence in computing as their male counterparts.

However, men are more likely to “feel they belong than women” (see link). And the share of bachelor’s degrees in computing awarded to women has halved since 1985.

Anecdotally, my female friends in computer science have experienced bullying & harassment, or been ignored & overlooked. /2

https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/2018/10/22/why-the-future-isnt-female-in-computing

Why the future isn’t female in computing

Women are less likely to feel part of the coding community

The Economist

Boris Barbour Jan 16, 2023

^ the differences between maths/chemistry vs. physics/computing/engineering are striking.

BrainPilgrim Jan 16, 2023

@Sheril Been there and got out of that as it became obvious it didn't matter how good I was, I was doomed to coffee-making and admin as my resume highlights.

Dulce Maria (she/her)Jan 16, 2023

@Sheril I wonder how much the rise in coding boot camps have contributed to fewer computer science bachelor’s degrees.

iar81b Jan 16, 2023

@Sheril 25 years ago in Romania's Polytechnic University Computer Science department, considered the best and the toughest in the country, there were 9 women out of 350 students in the year. Today there are more women than men there.

CarolineCherry Jan 17, 2023

@iar81b @Sheril This is really interesting. It does look like there is something odd going on in certain countries . The uk seems light years behind & im not sure why .

iar81b Jan 17, 2023

@stroppypanda @Sheril România complicated story in this regards.

To start with there was a certain reminiscent culture left from the socialist times where discrimination of women was very low in academeia. There is a book about this subject. There was some polarization such as men tended to be engineers but women were doing economics. Overall there was more or less parity.

On top of this there was a massive boom in It sector. Employers could just not afford to be picky over maternity.

CarolineCherry Jan 20, 2023

@iar81b @Sheril I think this is very interesting .I have friends who were from East Berlin. I understood that nurseries were seen as normal not a luxury . Arguably in uk the spiralling costs of childcare has also worked against women. I suspect there is a significant number of women that for many reasons have left the labour market but have the skills . I’m genuinely staggered that Torypolitical leadership is so misogynistic hope that education improves.

iar81b Jan 20, 2023

@stroppypanda @Sheril

It is an interesting discussion

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/nov/09/why-women-have-better-sex-socialism-kristen-ghodsee-review

It is an interesting take. Living through the period I do not agree entirely. In Romania due to the ban on abortions it was terrible actually.

However there are other points which are spot on on my view.

Why Women Have Better Sex Under Socialism by Kristen Ghodsee – review

Did East German women have more orgasms than those in the west? How market forces affect sexuality

The Guardian

HLGEM Jan 17, 2023

@Sheril I was a data analyst. So very much bullying and harassment and just plain old being told you were stupid or men stealing your ideas. So very much. I remember one man (he was also the system admin) actually breaking into my computer on weekends and deliberately breaking my code. And the company chose to ignore it when I gave them proof. I left shortly thereafter.

And far lower pay. And of course, I was in the data ghetto with many women because men weren't interested in the data just the interface. Never mind that the business needed the data!

When We Vote We Win Jan 17, 2023

@Sheril strike the words “just as”. They read as defensive.

Nicole Parsons Jan 17, 2023

A common practice: assigning tasks late in the day for completion before staff can go home.

If you're a woman who needs to pick children up at daycare, this practice precludes you.

Another practice is top schools like MIT require all-nighters and weekend work as part of their work culture.

It's the same strategy that kept women out of medical schools for decades. Long hours left out the less privileged.

Schlüssellochkind 👁️Jan 19, 2023

@Sheril There was another one, who was important for Albert Einstein, to get his famous theory!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mileva_Mari%C4%87

"another.." 🙈 😁^^

Mileva Marić - Wikipedia

Milla Havanka Jan 16, 2023

@Sheril
Sometimes I imagine bringing people like da Vinci and Lovelace into the future to see what is possible now. I wonder what they would say about our tech and especially how we are using it.

@immersfer there's a recent Doctor Who episode where the first female Doctor meets her and has an adventure with her, it's beautiful :)

Mike Torr Jan 16, 2023

@immersfer @Sheril I once wrote a short story as an exercise at my writers' group, in which Lovelace and Charles Babbage had built a time machine and travelled to our time. I wrote him as quite a grumpy character, horrified at what machines had done to us, while Ada was more thoughtful and quite excited by it all.

Tiina Sarlin 🐘Feb 12, 2023

@immersfer @Sheril they are here, just listen to all wise women.

NerdGirlInVR 💜🇺🇸🌎🐘💜Jan 16, 2023

Here's a video I recorded at the #ComputerHistoryMuseum back in 2014 on #GoogleGlass.

The "Babbage Analytical Engine" demonstrated. This is one of two in existence, on loan at the time to the CPH in #MountainView The other's in London.

Beautiful piece of machinery, should be named for Lovelace. 💜

JohnMashey Jan 17, 2023

@NerdGirlInVR @Sheril Nathan Myrhvold kindly lent his Babbage Engine to #ComputerHistoryMuseum for ~half-dozen years. When he wanted it back, we replaced it with a big Ada Lovelace exhibit in cooperation with Oxford & Prof Ursula Martin, who was curating big batch if Ada’s letters. Here’s link to event on resulting book, which also links to page when we earlier opened the exhibit, which ran for several years.
https://computerhistory.org/events/ada-lovelace-making-computer-scientist/

Ada Lovelace: The Making of a Computer Scientist - CHM

Join two of the co-authors of Ada Lovelace: The Making of a Computer Scientist, Ursula Martin and Adrian Rice for a discussion of Ada Lovelace’s life in mathematics and its meaning for us today.

CHM

NerdGirlInVR 💜🇺🇸🌎🐘💜Jan 17, 2023

@JohnMashey @Sheril thank you!!! I could not remember the gentleman's name but I do remember the story of how the Computer History Museum got it on loan.

Per the docents, two of these built. One for the Science Museum in London and one for Mr. Nathan Myhrvold to display in his private home. His wife was not keen on the idea of having this machine dripping oil on her floors. 🤣

An incredible thing to see, good to hear Ada Lovelace is finally recognized for it.

JohnMashey Jan 17, 2023

@NerdGirlInVR @Sheril
Agreed, more. Nathan had been Microsoft CTO, visited Science Museum in London, saw Babbage Engine, told them he'd pay to complete its printer & to build a 2nd one. CHM heard & persuaded Nathan to lend it to us for a year ... and we asked each year. Indeed, wife didn't want it in living room & original Inllectual Ventures building may not have had good space, but moved to a spiffy new building & eventually Nathan wanted Engine back, so here it is:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Difference_Engine_at_Intellectual_Ventures_30.JPG

File:Difference Engine at Intellectual Ventures 30.JPG - Wikimedia Commons

NerdGirlInVR 💜🇺🇸🌎🐘💜Jan 17, 2023

@JohnMashey @Sheril also, I consider the Computer History Museum in Mountain View to be the best museum in the Bay Area. 💜

JohnMashey Jan 17, 2023

@NerdGirlInVR @Sheril
Many thanks! I've been a #ComputerHistoryMuseum Trustee for 20+ years ... and the Ada exhibit happened because Prof Martin is old firend,kl was staying with us, and we invited Museum CEO to dinner with her ... in (successful) hopes of stirring interest.

NerdGirlInVR 💜🇺🇸🌎🐘💜Jan 18, 2023

@JohnMashey @Sheril truly a huge inspiration to all the little girl's out there who just love math and think that makes them different. Different is good!

I wish there had been more about Ada Lovelace (or any!) taught when I was a kid. I have always loved math too. 💜

Thanks to you and others for giving young ladies a chance to dream BIG.

JohnMashey Jan 19, 2023

@NerdGirlInVR @Sheril
CMPSC is a field where talent varies hugely and success of organizations depends on hiring and developing smart people, of whom half are female. When I was teaching CMPSC in early 1970s at Penn State, ~1/3 of the CMPSC undergrads were women. That % rose for a while and then sadly diminished, for various reasons. Follow Mar Hicks, @histoftech for insights in this turf.

NerdGirlInVR 💜🇺🇸🌎🐘💜Jan 19, 2023

@JohnMashey @Sheril

Followed @histoftech ... Thanks for the recommendation. 😁

JohnMashey Jan 19, 2023

@NerdGirlInVR @Sheril @histoftech
You might watch the video of @histoftech's fine discussion at #ComputerHistoryMuseum in 2017:
https://computerhistory.org/blog/women-gender-sexuality-and-computing-history/
My British wife's PhD dissertation was in mathematical programming, and she resonated to Mar Hicks' discussion.

Women, Gender, Sexuality, and Computing History

The experience of women, and the issues of gender and sexuality, are vitally important to our understanding of the story of computing, and hence our contemporary world, for many reasons. Perhaps most straightforwardly, women have been ubiquitous throughout the history of computing as makers and users of it. As Eileen Clancy, the archivist and City University of New York graduate student, so aptly put it in her recent talk “Sekiko Yoshida: Abacus ‘Software’ in the Early US Space Program” at the Society for the History of Technology’s 2017 meeting: “The women are always there, if you look for them.”

CHM

oneguynick Jan 16, 2023

@Sheril We named our Daughter after her!

@oneguynick okay you won ^^

Yves Garenne Jan 16, 2023

@Sheril célébrons son souvenir.

David Nissen Jan 16, 2023

@Sheril One of my geek heroes.

Ulf Dittmer Jan 16, 2023

@Sheril https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Thrilling_Adventures_of_Lovelace_and_Babbage is a delightful comic book about her work with Charles Babbage. I learned a lot about their life and times, and laughed a lot. #babbage #lovelace

The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage - Wikipedia

Greg Wellman Jan 16, 2023

@udittmer @Sheril I read all (I think) of Sydney Padua's Lovelace and Babbage stories on her website, and it was definitely one of my favorite things.

holothuroid Jan 16, 2023

@Sheril Company required all office rooms being named after towns. We chose Lovelace and Turing.

Lovelace was easy. She's the Countess of Lovelace after all. Turing, we could show, is a place in Indonesia.

Tom Barkas Jan 16, 2023

@Sheril @etnom Shame she died so young

@Sheril you're not a real programmer until you know about the life and work of Ada :)
What a tragic, lovely, beautiful and most of all brilliant woman!

Joe Peacock Jan 16, 2023

@Sheril I found her fascinating, so I wrote a song about her. This is a rough demo version I released on bandcamp: https://joepeacock.bandcamp.com/track/wise-by-asking-why

Wise by asking why, by Joe Peacock

from the album I'm only here

Joe Peacock

Aho Jan 16, 2023

@Sheril it was sad that Ada never got her computer, think how different the world may had been if she had her computer and revolutionized the world.

sentient water Jan 16, 2023

@Sheril I was just thinking about Ada Lovelace admiringly the other day. What a legend.

Mary Austin Jan 16, 2023

@Sheril can it be argued that many males attracted to computing are socially stunted, threatened by women of equal or superior intelligence, need to achieve "status" by belittling them? Classic incel behavior? I know, not all men, but at the undergrad level perhaps, it is many?

Nick Strugnell Jan 16, 2023

@Sheril up until at least the 1960s women were extremely well represented in computer departments in both government and commerce as it was seen as an extension of clerical work and the original "computers" (clerks doing mathematical computations) were largely women. See also Admiral Grace Hopper and Margaret Hamilton.

The Lincolnshire Poacher Jan 17, 2023

@nstrugnell @Sheril I managed large 80+ Data processing departments, as they were then called, from 1978 to 2005 and the split was roughly 75/25 in favour of women in support, operations and programming.

CarolineCherry Jan 17, 2023

@nstrugnell @Sheril So the question is what happened to undermine that. I’m admittedly an arts graduate but every person I’ve met that appears to be involved in tech seems to be male these days. In fact it’s worse than that when joining the council the main people who were advising on tech / confident were men. As a result many female councillors were not always involved in meetings because it required some basic tech abilities,it’s an age thing as well.

Nick Strugnell Jan 17, 2023

@stroppypanda @Sheril Cultural shift driven by economics I suspect. As organisations became more reliant on IT, so it became a higher status/higher paying job, therefore more attractive to men. The senior managers were always men so they presumably hired more in their own image once there were more male candidates. Corollary: jobs that were previously high status (secretarial, teaching) used to be dominated by men, now dominated by women as the status has reduced. Medicine going the same way.

Nick Strugnell Jan 17, 2023

@stroppypanda @Sheril I'm not sure of the causality though. I suspect that jobs that are more attractive to women are societally deemed lower status and therefore lower paid. It certainly seems that way in teaching, nursing, social care etc which have huge labour shortages yet this does not translate into supply side pressure in the way it might in male-dominated occupations.

Chris_Swan Jan 16, 2023

@Sheril and occasionally, I get to "be" her to educate children (which is awesome) #AdaLovelace

Pete Batchelor Jan 16, 2023

@Sheril there is a magnificent graphic novel about Ada (and Charles Babbage) called The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage: The (Mostly) True Story of the First Computer by Sydney Padua. Check it out

Martyn Winters // Marrick Jan 16, 2023

@Sheril my granddaughter is named after her. Meet Ada Isabella Brackin-Winters

Vinny R Jan 16, 2023

@Sheril I suspect I watched the wrong Lovelace biography movie

HLGEM Jan 17, 2023

@Sheril And don't forget Admiral Grace Hopper who developed COBOL and many of the techniques used to write programs. And she logged the very first bug! (It was a real one.)

Jaime Robertson Jan 17, 2023

@Sheril Also good to remember that the word Computer was used to refer to people:
“Teams of people, often women from the late nineteenth century onwards, were used to undertake long and often tedious calculations”
Then many of these women transitioned into programming.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_(occupation)

Computer (occupation) - Wikipedia

OldAndCranky Jan 17, 2023

@Sheril such a fascinating story.

Eric the half-a-bee Jan 18, 2023

@Sheril
I'm a big fan of Ada Lovelace. That's a stunning portrait of her too! Her biography is fascinating; she and Babbage were also trying to use the Difference Engine to predict the outcomes of horse races!
Such a tragically short life.

Bunnii 🏳️‍⚧️Jan 18, 2023

@Sheril It's also fun to note that Alan Turing was openly gay

Eva Chanda Feb 12, 2023

@Sheril Imagen all she could have accomplished if she hadn't died so young. #historydon #WomenInSTEM