Do you remember which women have influenced you over the years?
Perhaps your maths teacher, one of your university lecturers, or a colleague?
This Ada Lovelace Day on October 7, share your story about a woman — whether an engineer, a scientist, a technologist or mathematician — who has inspired you to become who you are today. Write a blog post, record a podcast, film a video, draw a comic, or pick any other way to talk about the women who have been guiding lights in your life. Give your heroine the credit she deserves!
There’s more!
Adafruit: 24 hours of Ada Lovelace Day and 10% off everything in the store
Adafruit celebrates Ada Lovelace Day for the second year in a row with special content and discounts! Limor “Ladyada” Fried, who was the first female engineer on the cover of WIRED magazine is publishing a post per-hour of a women in science/engineering for 24 hours on October 7th, 2011. This will be a day long celebration to help bringing women in technology to the fore!
Adafruit makes educational electronics and wants to help get more young women interested in technology, the discount code for the day will be ADA11, Adafruit is offering 10% off ALL their products for that day only. The Adafruit site will feature a female engineer, scientist or maker who Limor admires throughout the entire day!
The code goes live on Friday, this is just a heads up!
Adafruit publishes a wide range of writing and video content, including interviews and reporting on the maker market and the wider technology world. Our standards page is intended as a guide to best practices that Adafruit uses, as well as an outline of the ethical standards Adafruit aspires to. While Adafruit is not an independent journalistic institution, Adafruit strives to be a fair, informative, and positive voice within the community – check it out here: adafruit.com/editorialstandards
Stop breadboarding and soldering – start making immediately! Adafruit’s Circuit Playground is jam-packed with LEDs, sensors, buttons, alligator clip pads and more. Build projects with Circuit Playground in a few minutes with the drag-and-drop MakeCode programming site, learn computer science using the CS Discoveries class on code.org, jump into CircuitPython to learn Python and hardware together, TinyGO, or even use the Arduino IDE. Circuit Playground Express is the newest and best Circuit Playground board, with support for CircuitPython, MakeCode, and Arduino. It has a powerful processor, 10 NeoPixels, mini speaker, InfraRed receive and transmit, two buttons, a switch, 14 alligator clip pads, and lots of sensors: capacitive touch, IR proximity, temperature, light, motion and sound. A whole wide world of electronics and coding is waiting for you, and it fits in the palm of your hand.
Have an amazing project to share? The Electronics Show and Tell is every Wednesday at 7:30pm ET! To join, head over to YouTube and check out the show’s live chat and our Discord!
That’s a No-brainer!
Mrs. Marcia Schaeffer, 4th grade teacher at Woodward Parkway Elementary School, Farmingdale, NY, c. 1971.
A product of the “Kennedy Challenge Years” she brought excellence to the classroom, and was particularly adept at Science lessons. She was a hard, but fair, task-master, and helped an aweful lot of kids onto their path to success. I should know- I was one of them.
I once knew a woman at Walgreens corporate. It was a tight bunch of tech people, there in Mount Prospect, IL. I think her name was Christine Foster, but it’s been a long time, and I’ve tried to forget. It was 1994.
She was as pretty as they come; eyes, curves, laugh, smile, everything. **AND** she was as competent as any man in the business (or more so). And to this day I’ve never seen anyone as ‘sharp’ as this woman.
She’d come in haltingly early (<6AM) and catch up with the logs of the overnight operators. Then she created charts and graphs for the entire team before they arrived around 7:30-8:00.
But she was creepily transparent.
If a janitor moves past at a distance, your gaze goes there, you'll realize what the motion is, and you go back. But this woman, as attractive and fun to engage, never even got that. She must have been *miserable*. The guys just wouldn't get to know her.
It was so bad that, every Friday a rose (or more) would appear on her desk with no note.
One day as we were getting to know each other I took the courage to say "YOU're sending those roses, aren't you?" She blushed and denied it. My heart sunk: I'd looked my whole life for not just a pretty face, but a technical counterpart as well…and here, as co-workers, it couldn't happen.
Though I've tried to forget her, as I'm unhappy with the way Walgreens ended, I've thought back to her many times, thinking HOW COOL it would be to be married to someone who'd find the things I enjoy as fun.
I'm sorry she was so mistreated. I'm sorry I was working there, so I could never know her. And I'm sorry to have found an example of the kind of person I've always wanted, but could never have. 🙁
I hear you, Brian. Of of the many ways that my darling wife captured my heart was watching her wrap microphone cables after breaking down a concert setup where I working the sound system. (It was a “working” date!) I’m very anal with the proper care of my equipment, so I appreciated her care and skill. Turns out that she had worked her share of gigs too, and could setup and break-down with the best of them! It’s one of the many things we have in common, so yes- she’s definitely a heroine to me, but for things that go far beyond the spirit of Ada Lovelace Day!
2 Nobels. 3 for the family (Marie+Pierre=physics, Marie=chem, daughter Irene=chem, I think).
The first female scientist to transform the future of her civilization.
Probably the most remarkable woman who ever lived (I declare).
Who’s my heroine?
That’s a No-brainer!
Mrs. Marcia Schaeffer, 4th grade teacher at Woodward Parkway Elementary School, Farmingdale, NY, c. 1971.
A product of the “Kennedy Challenge Years” she brought excellence to the classroom, and was particularly adept at Science lessons. She was a hard, but fair, task-master, and helped an aweful lot of kids onto their path to success. I should know- I was one of them.
Good nite, Mrs. Schaeffer, wherever you are!
I once knew a woman at Walgreens corporate. It was a tight bunch of tech people, there in Mount Prospect, IL. I think her name was Christine Foster, but it’s been a long time, and I’ve tried to forget. It was 1994.
She was as pretty as they come; eyes, curves, laugh, smile, everything. **AND** she was as competent as any man in the business (or more so). And to this day I’ve never seen anyone as ‘sharp’ as this woman.
She’d come in haltingly early (<6AM) and catch up with the logs of the overnight operators. Then she created charts and graphs for the entire team before they arrived around 7:30-8:00.
But she was creepily transparent.
If a janitor moves past at a distance, your gaze goes there, you'll realize what the motion is, and you go back. But this woman, as attractive and fun to engage, never even got that. She must have been *miserable*. The guys just wouldn't get to know her.
It was so bad that, every Friday a rose (or more) would appear on her desk with no note.
One day as we were getting to know each other I took the courage to say "YOU're sending those roses, aren't you?" She blushed and denied it. My heart sunk: I'd looked my whole life for not just a pretty face, but a technical counterpart as well…and here, as co-workers, it couldn't happen.
Though I've tried to forget her, as I'm unhappy with the way Walgreens ended, I've thought back to her many times, thinking HOW COOL it would be to be married to someone who'd find the things I enjoy as fun.
I'm sorry she was so mistreated. I'm sorry I was working there, so I could never know her. And I'm sorry to have found an example of the kind of person I've always wanted, but could never have. 🙁
I hear you, Brian. Of of the many ways that my darling wife captured my heart was watching her wrap microphone cables after breaking down a concert setup where I working the sound system. (It was a “working” date!) I’m very anal with the proper care of my equipment, so I appreciated her care and skill. Turns out that she had worked her share of gigs too, and could setup and break-down with the best of them! It’s one of the many things we have in common, so yes- she’s definitely a heroine to me, but for things that go far beyond the spirit of Ada Lovelace Day!
There can be only one: Marie Curie
2 Nobels. 3 for the family (Marie+Pierre=physics, Marie=chem, daughter Irene=chem, I think).
The first female scientist to transform the future of her civilization.
Probably the most remarkable woman who ever lived (I declare).
Happy Ada Lovelace Day! 😎
Mike
Dawn Lewis — retired school teacher, she took me on for tutoring. I miss her greatly! Peace!