Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Ada Lovelace Day: International Day Recognizing Women In Technology

I took a brief hiatus from writing about conservation this past week, you might notice. I'm a little bit what they call 'wolfed out.' One can only scream so loud for so long before they begin to lose their voice, be it from larangitis brought on by the screaming, or because they become so angry they lose their sense of purpose and start railing at the world. So instead I joined a pledge to write about Ada Lovelace Day. Who is Ada Lovelace?
Ada Lovelace is the person who literally defined the computer.
Admittedly, I don't know a whole lot more about the woman, but I remember reading the information on the pledge page (and thanks, sis, for introducing me to PledgeBank.com!) and going "oh, yeah, I remember learning about her." However, I don't remember what I learned. The point being, without Ada Lovelace it is conceivably possible that none of us would be blogging about anything, least of all Ada Lovelace today. Funny, isn't it, that women in the field of science were often scorned, and yet some of the greatest scientific breakthroughs have come from women. Without Marie Curie we wouldn't have modern cancer treatment. Florence Nightingale has been romanticized out of history almost, but in truth she was instrumental in establishing women in medicine. Jane Goodall and the late Dian Fossey pioneered primatology and conservation.
At risk of upsetting my sister I'm going to use her favorite phrase: "Now, more than ever!" women are needed in science, to bring their natural nuturing and caring sensebilities into play to create the new green technologies we're going to need to survive on this planet, and continue to pay homage to the greatest woman in science of them all: Mother Earth.

No comments: