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Coding competition celebrates Lovelace Day for aspiring Adas

Monday 8th October 2018

Aspiring Adas aged 9-15 can win a pair of free tickets to our popular Creative Computing Club ‘Rapid Robots’ (3 Nov) to celebrate the 10th annual Ada Lovelace Day in October! An international celebration of the achievements of women in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM), Ada Lovelace Day aims to increase the profile of women in STEM and, in doing so, create new role models who will encourage more girls into STEM careers and support women already working in STEM.

Ada Lovelace was one of the world’s first computer programmers. In 1833, she was introduced to Charles Babbage whom she helped to develop a device called The Analytical Engine; an early predecessor of the modern computer. Lovelace and Babbage worked together closely for many years in order to refine the Engine. Ada found relative fame in 1842 when she expanded on an article by an Italian mathematician, in which she elaborated on the use of machines through the manipulation of symbols. Although Babbage had sketched out programs before, Lovelace’s were the most elaborate and complete, and the first to be published; so she is often referred to as “the first computer programmer”.

Ada’s notes inspired Alan Turing to work on the first modern computers in the 1940’s. Her passion and vision for technology have made her a powerful symbol for women in the modern world of technology.

Science Oxford runs a wide range of activities that focus on coding, from our monthly Saturday Creative Computing Club for young people to our new Adult Coding Course launching in October.

If you’re a young Ada Lovelace, maybe you’d like to come along to one of the coding clubs to find out more? Be in with a chance of winning two free tickets to one of our upcoming clubs by telling us what you would invent if you able to programme it? Or tell us about something you have designed and/or built using coding.

To win free tickets for the next Creative Computing Club ‘Rapid Robots‘ (3 November) for ages 9-12 or 12-15, email [email protected] or tweet, Facebook or instagram your invention idea to @ScienceOxford now #AspiringAdas

 

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