The first EVER computer scientist in the world was a woman! Ada Lovelace is the reason behind why we have so many amazing technological advancements today!
Introduction:
Girls are breaking barriers in the field of computer science— and you can be a part of this amazing wave as well! For far too long, coding has been stigmatized to be a “boy” thing, but did you know that the first-ever programmer in the world was a girl? You heard that right… girls founded programming. Today, I’m here to tell you the story of Ada Lovelace and her groundbreaking influence in history!
Don’t let anyone ever tell you coding isn’t a girl thing!
Background:
Ada Lovelace was the first-ever programmer in the world. Ada was born in 1815; her father was a poet and her mother was a mathematician. Ada’s mother gave her an unusual education for a young girl of her time: she allowed Ada to study mathematics. Back then, the idea of a girl learning math was unprecedented. Nonetheless, Ada’s knowledge of mathematics prompted her into the field of logic and engineering. As a child, Ada was fascinated by machines produced in the Industrial Revolution. At age 28, she published a translation of an Italian engineer’s article on the Analytical Engine and included many notes of her own. In her notes, she speculated that the engine “might act upon other things besides number… the Engine might compose complexity or extent.” Now, this old-timey language might seem like a bunch of nonsense to you, but in fact, in that very line, Ada determined a revolutionary idea. The idea of a machine that could manipulate symbols in accordance with rules, and that numbers could represent values other than quantity, marked the fundamental transition from simple calculation to computation! Ada’s translation was regarded so highly that the author of the Analytical Engine asked her to expand on the article, and in doing so, she wrote several of the first computer programs. Unfortunately, Ada died young at the age of 36 due to cancer, but her work lives on forever. Ada’s discoveries later became the founding principle behind the invention of the first modern computer by Alan Turing in the 1940s.
Interested in coding?
Here is a fun place to get started and learn how to code with block-based language for children. See this tutorial: learn how to animate your name with code in Scratch:
Create a new Scratch project
Pick your own background
Pick the first letter of your name as a sprite, delete the default cat from your sprite options
Make that letter interactive! You can:
Play a sound when the sprite is clicked
Change the color of the sprite when the letter is clicked
Make the sprite spin when it's clicked
Make the sprite grow when it's clicked
Add another sprite for the second letter of your name and so on so forth so that you have a sprite for each letter of your name. Repeat step 3 on each sprite/letter so that you can customize the code for your own project!
Conclusion:
As you can see, when girls are given the proper education and opportunities to access knowledge at an early age, their potential for success and innovation is truly boundless. Don’t let anyone tell you what you can or cannot be. You might not know it yet, but just like Ada, you can and will do something truly revolutionary!
Looking for more fun at home STEM activities for your young scientist? Check out our workbook full of exciting science experiments and empowering activities!
