WOMEN’S HISTORY MONTH 2021

ADA LOVELACE (December 10, 1815 - November 27, 1852)

“Augusta Ada Byron, Countess of Lovelace — better known as “Ada Lovelace” — was the only legitimate child of the famous poet Lord George Gordon Byron. Lovelace had an unusual upbringing for an aristocratic girl in the mid-1800s. At her mother’s insistence, tutors taught her mathematics and science. Such challenging subjects were not standard fare for women at the time. From early on, Lovelace showed a talent for numbers and language. She received instruction from various people, including Mary Somerville, a Scottish astronomer and mathematician, who was one of the first women to be admitted into the Royal Astronomical Society.

At the age of 17, Ada met Charles Babbage, a mathematician and inventor, and the much older Babbage served as a mentor to Lovelace. Through Babbage, Lovelace began studying advanced mathematics with University of London professor Augustus de Morgan.Lovelace was fascinated by Babbage’s ideas. Known as the father of the computer, he invented the difference engine, which was meant to perform mathematical calculations. Lovelace got a chance to look at the machine before it was finished, and was captivated by it.

Lovelace was later asked to translate an article on Babbage’s analytical engine. She not only translated the original text but also added her own thoughts and ideas on the machine. Her notes ended up being three times longer than the original article. Her work was published in 1843, in an English science journal. In her notes, Lovelace described how codes could be created for the device to handle letters and symbols along with numbers. She also theorized a method for the engine to repeat a series of instructions, a process known as looping that computer programs use today. Lovelace also offered up other forward-thinking concepts in the article. For her work, Lovelace is often considered to be the first computer programmer.

Lovelace’s article attracted little attention when she was alive.

Lovelace’s contributions to the field of computer science were not discovered until the 1950s. Her notes were reintroduced to the world by B.V. Bowden, who republished them in Faster Than Thought: A Symposium on Digital Computing Machines in 1953. Since then, Ada has received many posthumous honors for her work. In 1980, the U.S. Department of Defense named a newly developed computer language “Ada,” after Lovelace.”

Gone with the Wind (1939)

“If you can take it, you can make it.”

Unbroken (2014)

Three (one behind horse left) unidentified signallers of the Australian Light Horse with their horses on the desert.

Tunnel dressing station, Villers-Bretonneux - Arthur Streeton, 1918.

JODIE COMER as MARGUERITE DE CARROUGES in THE LAST DUEL (2021)

You know very well if I fall, you all come tumbling down after me.

austen meme ⇾ books ⇾ sense and sensibility

✨ Elizabeth talking about her mother, Anne Boleyn ✨ Becoming Elizabeth 1.03 Either Learn or Be Silent

Queen Elizabeth II

As many of you know Queen Elizabeth II passed away yesterday at the age of 96 after reigning as monarch for Great Britain and the Commonwealth for 70 years.

Whilst I’m not a royalist nor an anti-monarchist, I’ve never known anything different when it comes to our head of state. Great Britain has come to the end of an era as a new one is also about to be ushered in. I will remember Queen Elizabeth II as nothing but hard working and a dedicated a Queen right until the end of her life. She was also a fashion icon in her own right and wore some beautiful gowns in her younger years and knew how to wear colours in her later years. Rest in Peace Queen Elizabeth II.

Elizabeth Alexandra Mary ( b. 21 April 1926 - d. 8 September 2022 )

The Light Between Oceans (2016) dir. Derek Cianfrance