Ada Lovelace Day

Today is Ada Lovelace Day, the first of its kind. Who is she I hear you ask? She was the first female “programmer” who lived in the early 19th Century.  She foresaw a computer’s potential, that is, not just to be a machine that “number-crunched” and calculated. In her short life (she died at the age of 36) she translated memoirs on Charles Babbage’s newest machine, the Analytical Engine. With additional detailed notes, historians agree that this was the first computer program. Her other claim to fame was the fact that she was the daughter of the poet Lord Byron.

The US Defense Department has named their computer language Ada, after Lovelace. She can also be seen on the hologram authenticity stickers on Microsoft products, and since 1998 the British Computer Society award a medal in her name and run a competition for women students in computer science.

2009 is the first year for Ada Lovelace Day, the aim of which is to “draw attention to women excelling in technology”.

In Birmingham there are many women who are excelling and contributing to the city becoming a leading European digital city by 2010. One of them is Professor Julia King, Vice Chancellor of Aston University. She is a director of the Engineering and Technology Board, a non-executive director of the Technology Strategy Board and the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills Advisory Board. By her example she plays a leading role in encouraging women to look into careers in sciences and engineering. Professor King is a new entry in Birmingham’s most powerful 50, entering at an impressive 3rd place, in front of Digby, Lord Jones of Birmingham and Sir Michael Lyons.

Julia King will be speaking at Birmingham City Council’s Transport Summit on 27th March regarding “Meeting the Carbon Challenge”. The event takes place at the Council House in Victoria Square throughout the day, and covers a wide range of transport and technology initiatives such as intelligent transport networks and the future transport vision for the city. This is another way that Birmingham can show it is at the forefront of advanced digital technologies and related initiatives.

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Keywords: Ada Lovelace, Analytical Engine, Aston University, birmingham city council, British Computer Society, Charles Babbage, Council House, Digby Jones, DIUS, ETB, Julia King, Lord Byron, Michael Lyons, Microsoft, Transport Summit, TSB, Victoria Square