Throughout my learning project, I noticed that there is a huge presence of women in the coding world. I think it is super cool that some of the greatest notes in coding history came from a woman!! Computer science is a male dominated field and I didn’t think much of it until starting my learning project.
Some super cool women which I have learned about and want to share are:
Ada Lovelace was a pioneer of technology and is often referred to as the first programmer. Ada was only 17 (born in 1815 ) when she got introduced to working on engines as a mathematician. Ada made a prototype called the Analytical Engine which what we know know as a computer. Although she only lived 37 years, she had a HUGE influence on the world technology.
After the war, Hopper worked with the Navy as a reserve officer. As a research fellow at Harvard, she worked with the Mark II and Mark III computers. She was at Harvard when a moth was found to have shortened out the Mark II and is sometimes given credit for the invention of the term “computer bug”— though she didn’t author the term, she did help popularize it.
In 1935, she was the first woman to become a storyboard artist for Walt Disney Productions!!! In 1934, Majolie submitted a letter to Disney expressing interest in working for his animation department. In 1935, the story department for Disney was dominated by men. That same year, Majolie submitted a thirteen-page outline entitled “The Romance of Baby Elephant”, which went into production as Elmer Elephant.
This TED talk has inspired me to continue mending the gender gap on non-tradition women careers and opportunities.