The Women of Coding

In 1833, Lady Ada Lovelace, the only legitimate daughter of Lord Byron, became the first computer programmer when she created a machine for computing called the Analytical Engine. Her partner, Charles Babbage, designed the hardware, while Lovelace focused on the machine’s inner workings or what we now call “software.” Bringing the machine to its absolute limit, Lovelace published the first computer algorithm in 1843.

Lovelace’s legacy would continue into the 20th century, as women entered the workforce. While men were busy fighting WWII, a group of female computer scientists, including Betty Holberton, Kay McNulty, Marlyn Wescoff, Ruth Lichterman, Fran Bilas and Betty Jean Jennings programmed the ENIAC, one of the first general purpose computers. Although they were called “subprofessionals” by their peers and “refrigerator girls” by historians, Hoberton and her team used ENIAC to make crucial calculations on the trajectory of ballistic missiles for the US and its allies.

View More Women of Coding

The military would give rise to another great coder when Grace Hopper, a professor and computer scientist, joined the navy reserve and developed one of the earliest programming languages, COBOL. Hopper went on to create the first compiler, a device for synthesizing written language into code. By the end of her career, she had risen to the rank of rear admiral and even got a US destroyer named after her.

Science cell phone cases, mugs, tote bags, and more!

In the 1980’s women’s participation in coding suddenly dropped. While the reason is unknown, Sara Kiesler, a social scientist, believes the advent of personal computers was chiefly responsible. Kielfer argues that when computers entered the home, parents made them the domain of boys and not girls. The culture surrounding tech became male-dominated and many women decided to opt out of the field completely. Female participation in programming was cut in half, and today only 18 percent of computer science graduates are women.

If you have a daughter or niece this Women’s History Month, encourage their interest in computers! Tell them that a career in coding is a girl thing too and that they can make history!

Click the link above to see more great female programmers and check out our storefront for great science gifts.

Science Prints, Mugs, Phone Cases and More

• nytimes.com
• history.com

Climate Change, Extreme Weather and the Jet Stream

In the last decade or so, we’ve experienced giant tornados, damaging wildfires, flood-inducing rainstorms, fatal heat waves, and droughts destroying crops and livestock like never before.

At the same time the polar jet stream, a westerly wind generated by solar radiation and the corollas effect (a phenomenon that creates our weather), has been behaving in unprecedented ways. Scientists believe this is not a coincidence, rather it is related.

Stock Images of Climate Change,
Extreme Weather and the Jet Stream

Normally, the jet stream travels either in a straight line or undulates in waves called Rossby waves. Rossby waves bring warm air northward and cold air southward. This can create a temporary heat wave or a rainstorm.

The jet stream is powered by the temperature differential between the cold arctic air and the warmer air in the lower latitudes. As global warming continues to warm the arctic air, the jet stream is losing its power. The Rossby waves have become larger, expanding much further north and south than before.

They are bringing temperatures and weather that is unusual for our local climate. Records show that Southern U.S. states now get snow more regularly than in the past.

Once Rossby waves, especially weakened ones, reach a certain size they can stall in place, permitting a heat wave or a rain weather system to last days or weeks longer than the norm.

With no end in sight to global warming or even a slowing of it, we are likely to be in for even more extreme weather that increases in intensity and stays put for longer.

Fine Art Prints of Wild Weather on Metal & Canvas

A growing number of scientists are predicting that perhaps as soon as 2050 the climate in the southern latitudes may be unlivable and the Arctic could be our new temperate zone.

Get ready to move north, and bring your umbrella, sunscreen and snow boots.

• wikipedia.com
• scientficamerican.com
• sciencefriday.com