Pona Misa

Pioneering Women in Computing Technologies

Ada Lovelace was born on December 10, 1815. Growing up, Ada was sickly child and hardly

went out. Ada lost her father who separated from her mother a couple months after her birth. She

was continuously subjected to bed rest for nearly a year which extended her period of disability.

By 1831, she was able to walk in crutches and was able to develop mathematical and

technological skills. When she reached the age of 12, she wanted to fly. Ada went about the

project methodically, thoughtfully, and with imagination and passion. She started with the wings

then worked her through the body. She then wrote a book Flyology based off her illustration and

her findings. In 1833, she had an affair with one of her tutors who tried she tried to elope but

then turned into a cover up scandal. Ada then heard that her half-sister Allegra died at five years

old. In 1833, Ada befriended her tutor Mary Somerville who she strongly respected and had

affection for. In 1835, she married William, the 8th Baron King; making her the Lady King and

owing residences of Ockham Park, a large estate on Lock Torridon and Surrey. She then had 3

children but then experienced a tedious and suffering illness which took a while to cure.

Throughout her Illness, she continued her education. Ada was privately school in mathematics

and science by Mary Somerville, William Frend, and others. She then came to believe that

intuition and imagination were critical in applying mathematical and scientific concepts.

Lovelace then died at the age of 36, same age as her father from uterine cancer. She was chiefly

known for her work on Charles Babbages early mechanical - purpose computer, The Analytic

Engine. She was later often regarded as the first computer programmer.
Edith Clarke was born on February 10, 1883 in Howard County, Maryland. She was born to a

family with nine children but was later orphaned at the age of 12. Being raised by her older sister

then led her to using her inheritance to study mathematics and astronomy at Vassar College

where she graduated in 1908. After graduating, she taught mathematics and physics in San

Francisco and also at Marshall college. She then attended AT&T and studied electrical

engineering at Columbia University by night. In 1918, Clarke enrolled at the Massachusetts

Institute of Technology, and the following year she became the first woman to earn an M.S. in

electrical engineering from MIT.