Alexandria, VA – Ever wonder where the name of Old Town’s Ada’s restaurant comes from? I did since it was the first restaurant I ate in when I came to Alexandria. According to Scott Shaw, Ada’s co-owner and Honorary Advisory Board member for the National Center of Women’s Innovations (NCWI), the restaurant is named after Ada Lovelace. Shaw explains, “We believe it is important to recognize women in STEM,” and Lovelace certainly qualified as a role model. Given Alexandria’s love of history and its commitment to innovations, Scott and his partners chose Ada Lovelace for their namesake and our community inspiration.
Because October 8, 2024, is Ada Lovelace Day and will be celebrated worldwide, especially in England where she was born, NCWI highlights her this month. Lovelace is a perfect role model for cheering on the need to help the under-recognized accomplishments of women innovators become commonly known. The Ada Lovelace Day was created to spotlight the impact of women in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.
Lovelace was the daughter of Lord Byron and reformer Anne Isabella Millbanke, although Byron left England shortly after Lovelace’s birth. Yet Millbanke purposely pushed her daughter’s mathematics and logic education. This led Lovelace to cultivate relationships with scientists and form a powerful partnership with Charles Babbage, often called the “father of computers.”
Intrigued with Babbage’s Analytical Engine, Lovelace translated and edited some scientific articles about the machine with clear annotations about how this engine could be used far beyond the calculations Babbage envisioned and instead be used for analysis. Fascinatingly, Lovelace envisioned the Analytical Engine could be programmed to “weave algebraic patterns, just as the Jacquard-loom weaves flowers and leaves.”
Brava for Ada Lovelace and her pioneering vision as the mother of computer programming. Next time you pass Ada’s, Google anything, or think of using AI, thank Lovelace for her brilliant vision of how computers could be used.
Lovelace’s under-appreciated role in computers only underscores the importance of what NCWI is doing to broaden our historical and contemporary appreciation of women innovators in all fields. That’s why NCWI is building a searchable database where youth, students, scholars, businesses, and academic groups can discover, promote, and locate key women who have changed the world.
We are exploring with schools, including George Mason University, Virginia Tech, Cornell, Duke, Harvard, Howard, Georgetown, Marymount, Smith College, and the University of Rochester, their interest and resources to partner with us. The goal is to institutionalize this database and tap their students and faculty resources to strengthen its impact. Have any suggested names and contacts of key institutions that should be included in our dialogue? Email me at [email protected].
We are thrilled that one of our newest board members, Karina Drees, a recent Northern Virginia resident who relocated from Boston, will share her fiscal expertise with NCWI as our Treasurer. As the former president of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation in Washington, DC, and the CEO of Mojave Air & Space Port, Drees also enlarges the board’s space expertise and connections. Having worked in the aerospace industry for 15 years, Drees recognizes the importance of diversity in an industry that needs more role models to inspire the next generation. “NCWI’s important mission inspires young people who may not have considered pursuing STEM,” says Drees.
Formerly the National Women’s Hall of Fame CEO, Jennifer Gabriel has joined our board and will head our fundraising committee. Gabriel oversaw the dramatic multi-year construction project to renovate the Hall of Fame’s home (a $15 million preservation/capital campaign), strategic plan development, and needed staffing to accomplish the Hall’s lofty goals. As an avid writer, Jennifer passionately champions the power of storytelling to educate and inspire, with a particular focus on amplifying the often-overlooked narratives of women’s experiences and achievements. She joined the Advisory Board of the National Center for Women’s Innovations upon its inception, understanding the importance of a mission to expose women inventors’ contributions that were misattributed or stolen by men. We are ecstatic that these high-powered women will help fulfill our mission. Read more about them and our other leadership at womensinnovations.org/about-us/leadership/
Join our team of passionate volunteers as Alexandrians celebrate NCWI!
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