Ada Lovelace
It’s no secret that open, rampant sexism still exists in the tech world, while women are still discouraged from entering STEM fields in favor of more traditionally female professions. However, the world’s first computer programmer was actually a woman, Ada Lovelace, who was also the daughter of the famed poet Lord Byron. Being born with such an elite pedigree meant she had access to some of the finest minds of the day, but it was her friendship with the inventor and mathematician Charles Babbage that would change her life. When Babbage built a calculating machine and asked Lovelace to translate an article about his invention, she added her own notes, along with a code that could be used to program it, which is considered to be the first algorithm, and thus the first computer program. Tragically, Ada died of cancer at the age of 37. A biopic about her life could certainly be an enjoyable one, where a woman is the one contributing to science, rather than being relegated to a supporting role.
Honorable mentions: Tomoe Gozen, Hedy Lamarr, Jane Goodall, Tamar of Georgia, Marsha P. Johnson, Edith Wilson.
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