Remembering women in science
The first computer programmer was a woman – mathematician Ada Lovelace (1815-1852), daughter of Lord Byron and friend of computer pioneer, Charles Babbage. As a result of her efforts, the 16th October each year has been set aside to celebrate women in science. This year, Britain’s Royal Society and Wikipedia hosted an edit-a-thon, to increase the Wikipedia pages devoted to women scientists and mathematicians.
Here you can find a report on the project from the journal Nature, and here is Wikipedia’s own page.
Categories: History, Programming
And it’s worth adding that we in the Department of Informatics and the School of Natural and Mathematical Sciences are doing our bit to promote Women in Science with our Women in Science scholarships for students entering higher education. Offered for the first time this year, these scholarships will also be available in 2013/14. Watch this space!
And for more information about women in science, and in computing in particular, see our own departmental Women in Science web page