5 women who shaped the technology industry

In celebration of International Women’s Day we take a look at some of the women who have shaped the technology industry, from the first computer programmers to pioneering scientists. Scan each picture with the Blippar app to learn more about their contributions to the world of tech.

Lady Ada Lovelace

1815-1852, mathematician and writer

Lady Lovelace is considered by many to be the first person to publish an algorithm and so the first computer programmer. The daughter of mathematician Anne Isabelle Milbanke and poet Lord Byron - although she never met her infamous father. Aged just 17 Ada met Charles Babbage and was fascinated by his idea to build an ‘Analytical Engine’. In 1843 she published a description of the machine which included instructions for how it could calculate a sequence of Bernoulli numbers. In essence this was the first computer algorithm.

Ada’s vision for the machine far surpassed even Babbage’s himself. While he saw it as a mathematical calculator, Ada understood it could do so much more. She saw how a machine could manipulate symbols in accordance with a set of defined rules and that these symbols did not only need to represent numbers and equations. Sadly the machine wasn’t built in her lifetime.

“The Analytical Engine weaves algebraic patterns just as the Jacquard loom weaves flowers and leaves. Supposing, for instance, that the fundamental relations of pitched sounds in the science of harmony and of musical composition were susceptible of such expression and adaptations, the engine might compose elaborate and scientific pieces of music of any degree of complexity or extent” - Ada Lovelace, 1843

Dame Stephanie “Steve” Shirley

Born 1933, IT pioneer & businesswoman

Dame Stephanie was born in Dortmund, Germany, but became a British citizen at the age of 18. In the 1950s Stephanie worked at the Post Office Research Station in Dollis Hill, London. Here she built computers from scratch and wrote machine code. In 1962 she founded the software company Freelance Programmers (later FI) with a capital of just £6. Shirley was passionate about creating job opportunities for women and employed mostly women, she had only 3 male programmers within her first 300 staff, until the Sex Discrimination Act of 1975 made that illegal. She adopted the name “Steve” to help her cut through the male-dominated world she was in. Projects created by her team included programming the black box flight recorder for Concorde. She received an OBE in 1980 and became a Dame in 2000 for services to IT.

Katherine Johnson

Born 1918, NASA mathematician & physicist

Katherine Johnson was a NASA scientist and mathematician who made enormous contributions to America’s space race by incorporating computing tools for celestial navigation. Immortalised by the film Hidden Figures, Katherine played a pivotal role in calculating the trajectories, launch windows and emergency back-up return paths for space missions. Including for Alan Shephard, the first American in space, as well as for the 1969 Apollo 11 flight to the moon. In 2015 Johnson was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Rear Admiral Grace M Hopper

Born 1906, computer scientist & naval officer

Grace was at the forefront of computer programming language development from the 1930s right through to the 1980s. She was a pioneer for the development of computer languages written in English, rather than mathematical notation which led to the development of COBOL, a programming language still in use today. She also popularised the term ‘debugging’ after a moth was extracted from a Harvard Mark II computer. The Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing Conference still honours her legacy today.

Dr Erna Hoover

Born 1926, mathematician & inventor

Dr Hoover developed a computerized call switching technology that paved the way for modern communications. Her system prevented overloads by monitoring traffic and prioritizing calls to ensure a robust service during peak loads. Her 1971 patent was one of the first software patents ever to be issued. She was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2008.

Tell us about your favourite women who have helped shape the tech industry in the comments below. Or to take your next step on your own journey to becoming a tech pioneer check out our current vacancies.