Image borrowed from 2D Goggles
2D Goggles: the thrilling adventures of Lovelace and Babbage is created by the gifted Sydney Padua, based on real-life characters - Victorian inventor Charles Babbage and poet and first computer programmer Ada Lovelace (daughter of the poet Byron). Much historic research goes into these stories, thus the footnotes (I love footnotes)... plus a few flying monkeys.
Today is Ada Lovelace Day! In honor of all those unsung heroines who contributed to science, math, technology, computers, all that "mathy" stuff that, you know, girls aren't supposed to be good at?
In the spirit of Ada Lovelace Day I'd love to write a thank you to one particular Woman who showed me that girls Can-Do.
But the truth is that there were too many strong, smart women in my life to choose only one. I was never given the slightest hint that girls or women couldn't do ANYTHING they chose, including math, until I was old enough not to be daunted by one pitiful redneck and a few architecture professors. (Wouldn't those professors be insulted by that comparison? Ha!) When the redneck said, "Architecture is a man's field," I got stubborn.
There's not much math in modern architectural practice, but it undeniably uses lots of science and technology and thus math, so:
Here's my thanks to those strong, smart women in my life and to the first female architects in the U.S.! Mary L. Page, Louise Blanchard Bethune, Sophia Hayden, Marion Mahony Griffin, and Julia Morgan. Special thanks are due to Sophia Hayden - a sacrifice upon the altar of trail-blazer if there ever was one - and to Julia Morgan - who first proved women could succeed without no quarter given, though she sacrificed having a family to do so. Women architects still struggle between those choices. But women now outnumber men in architecture schools, so we'll see won't we?
Architect Sophia Hayden
Architect Julia Morgan
Happy Ada Lovelace Day! Go thank a strong "techie" woman!
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