Today, 13 October 2020, is Ada Lovelace Day -- celebrated each year on the second Tuesday of October and an international celebration of the achievements of women in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). Born to a famous father, poet Lord Byron -- and first known as Augusta Ada Byron (1815-1852), Countess of Lovelace — this talented woman became far better known as "Ada Lovelace" (1815-1852). Lovelace worked on an early mechanical computer, "the Analytical Engine" -- and, because of her recognition of the varied applications of this machine, she is often regarded to be one of the first computer programmers.
Here is a link to a poem, "Bird, Moon, Engine" by Jo Pitkin that celebrates Ada Lovelace (with opening stanzas offered below) and this link leads to some of Lovelace's own poetic words. At this link are the results of a blog search using "Ada Lovelace" that leads to the aforementioned works and lots of other poems about math women.Tuesday, October 13, 2020
Monday, October 9, 2023
Celebrate Ada Lovelace -- and all women in STEM
The second Tuesday in October -- this year, Tuesday, October 10 -- is Ada Lovelace Day.. Details of the celebration planned by The Royal Institution of Science are available here at this link. A careful biography of this pioneering female mathematician -- Ada Lovelace (1815-1852) -- is available here.
"Ada Lovelace Day (ALD) is an international celebration of the achievements of women in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM). It 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." Quote from https://findingada.com/.
Although her father, poet Lord Byron, had no interest in mathematics, Ada's mother, Lady Byron, was supportive as was astronomer-mathematician Mary Somerville (1780-1872) -- who became a longtime friend and math-encourager. (Lots more details of Lovelace's math-life are available here at the St Andrews Math-History website and her pioneering work with the Analytical Engine is featured here.)
Below is a poem by Twitter poet Brian Bilston (@brian_bilston) that celebrates Ada Lovelace.
Friday, September 18, 2015
Words of Ada Lovelace
Those who view mathematical science,
not merely as a vast body
of abstract and immutable truths,
whose intrinsic beauty, symmetry and logical completeness,
when regarded in their connexion together as a whole,
entitle them to a prominent place
in the interest of all profound and logical minds,
Thursday, July 16, 2015
Celebrating Ada Lovelace
Bird, Moon, Engine by Jo Pitkin
Like a fence or a wall to keep me from harm,
tutors circled me with logic, facts, theorems.
But I hid the weeds growing wild in my mind.
By age five, I could plot the arc of a rainbow.
I could explain perpendicular and parallel.
In my mind, I heard the wind in wild weeds.
Monday, October 3, 2022
Women in Mathematics -- Netherlands
Below I offer a poetic quote from Marta Pieropan -- a faculty member at Utrecht University and a member of a European Women in Mathematics -- the Netherlands (EWM-NL), an activist organization supporting math-women. They are involved, for example, in a Wikipedia Project and have developed a poster that celebrates math-women (and is available in several different languages, including English).
PROVING A THEOREM GIVES ME
THE SAME SATISFACTION
AS LAYING THE LAST TILE
OF A JIGSAW PUZZLE
THAT FINALLY REVEALS THE WHOLE PICTURE
AND HIGHLIGHTS THE RELATIONS
BETWEEN THE VARIOUS PARTS
Thank you, Marta Pieropan, for your poetic words (which I found here).
P.S. Let us all remember that Tuesday, October 11, 2022 is this year's Ada Lovelace Day. If you'd like to browse, here is a link to previous mentions of Ada Lovelace in this blog.
Monday, November 16, 2015
Encouragement from fathers, a second view
Poetic expression by a daughter somewhat resistant to her father's wishes comes from our youngest-ever US Poet Laureate Rita Dove in her poem, "Flash Cards":
Saturday, January 2, 2016
2015 (and prior) -- titles, dates, links for posts
OR follow these year-number links to go to lists of posts through 2014, 2013, 2012 and 2011 -- and all the way back to March 2010 when this blog was begun. At the top of the column to the right is a SEARCH box for the blog and this link leads to a PDF file of searchable topics and names of poets and mathematicians presented herein. Scrolling down the right-hand column leads to a partial list of LABELS that are linked to a list of blogs that contain them.
Dec 31 Precision leads to poetry . . .
Dec 28 Can a woman learn science (or mathematics)?
Dec 24 And now welcome Christmas . . .
Dec 22 Let us not forget . . .
Dec 20 Who put the pie in Pythagoras?
Dec 18 A student writes poetry for a math class . . .
Dec 15 Generalized Pythagorean Theorem--a visual poem?
Tuesday, January 3, 2017
December 2016 (and prior) -- titles, dates of posts
Dec 31 Happy New Year! -- Resolve to REWARD WOMEN!
Dec 27 Celebrate Vera Rubin -- a WOMAN of science!
Dec 26 Post-Christmas reflections from W. H. Auden
Dec 19 Numbers for Christmas . . .
Dec 15 Remembering Thomas Schelling (1921-2016)
Dec 12 When one isn't enough ... words from a Cuban poet
Friday, November 18, 2016
A well-constructed language
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Mathematics is "a well-constructed language." |
Monday, April 3, 2017
Math-Stat Awareness Month -- find a poem!
AND
National Poetry Month!
Celebrate with a MATHY POEM, found here in this blog! Scroll down!
Mar 28 Split this Rock, Freedom Plow Award, April 21
Mar 27 Math-themed poems at Poets.org
Mar 23 Remember Emmy Noether!
Tuesday, January 16, 2018
Blog history -- title, links for previous posts . . .
Scroll through the titles below, browsing to find items of interest
among the more-than-nine-hundred postings since March 2010
OR
Click on any label -- a list is found in the right-hand column below the author profile
OR
Enter term(s) in the SEARCH box -- and find all posts containing those terms.
For example, here is a link to the results of a SEARCH using math women
And here is a link to a poem by Brian McCabe that celebrates math-woman Sophie Germain.
This link reaches a poem by Joan Cannon that laments her math-anxiety.
This poem expresses some of my own divided feelings.
Wednesday, September 26, 2018
Name five!
A few words in closing:
14 Syllables
A hen lays eggs
one by one;
the way you
count life
is life.
Tuesday, July 21, 2015
The culture for women in math and the sciences
from Ordinary Women Scientists by Mary Alexandra Agner
for R.C.
leave the lab late, flasks washed and waiting,
computer on an overnight crunch job,
warm dinner in the microwave
while wondering at excited water molecules,
wave their kids goodnight, grateful
Monday, March 7, 2022
International Day of the Woman -- 03-08-2022
Celebrate Math-Women with Poems
Throughout the history of mathematics, women have often been excluded or ignored. This is changing. I offer below some links to poems that herald math-women -- for you to enjoy and to share as we celebrate tomorrow -- "International Day of the Woman."
Celebrate Philippa Fawcett. Celebrate Sophie Germain.
Celebrate Grace Murray Hopper. Celebrate Katherine Johnson.
Celebrate Sophia Kovalevsky. Celebrate Ada Lovelace.
Celebrate Florence Nightingale. Celebrate Emmy Noether.
And, as your time permits, browse this blog -- or SEARCH -- to find more . . .
Thursday, July 1, 2021
Looking back . . . to previous posts . . .
BROWSE and ENJOY!
Back in January 2020 I gathered a list of titles of previous posts and posted it here at this link. And below I offer titles of postings -- with links -- since that time.
you are invited to explore the SEARCH feature in the right-hand column
OR to browse the list of Labels (also to the right) -- and click on ones that interest you.
Thursday, June 16, 2016
Women occupy mathematics
Here are the opening lines of "Circle of Silence" by Stacey K. Vargas:
Like an electron trapped in an unstable orbit, I am seated
in a circle of powerful men.
In an awkward moment small talk ends
and the meeting abruptly begins.
The superintendent turns to me and says,
"This was not sexual harassment."
And the opening lines of "The Typist" by Barbara Drake:
I made 87 1/2 cents an hour typing,
when I was a college student.
Wednesday, March 6, 2019
Celebrate Math-Women with Poems!
March 8 is International Women's Day!
Monday, March 8, 2021
Internat'l Day of the Woman--Name 5 Math-Women!
Today,
March 8, is International Day of the Woman for 2021. I continue to
consider the challenge that I heard offered lots of years ago concerning
women in the art world, Name FIVE.
Each of us who cares about mathematics should be able to name at least five
women who made important contributions to the field. A wonderful
resource is this website "Biographies of Women Mathematicians" -- maintained by Larry Riddle of Agnes Scott College that tells of the important lives of math women.
Here are a few lines that from a poem I wrote that celebrates algebraist Amalie "Emmy Noether" (1882-1935); read more here.
Emmy Noether's abstract axiomatic view
changed the face of algebra.
She helped us think in simple terms
that flowered in their generality.
Monday, October 14, 2019
Using poetry to open dialogues with science . . .
A dust-jacket blurb describes the author:
Sam Illingworth is a Senior Lecturer in Science Communication, where his work involves
using poetry to develop dialogues between scientists and non-scientists,
especially amongst traditionally under-served and under-represented communities.
Illingworth also is a poet -- with a poem-a-week-blog available at this link.
From Rebecca Elson (1960-1999), an astronomer and poet whose life was cut short by cancer, we have these math-linked lines (written in 1998 and on page 168 of A Sonnet to Science):
Is there any language, logic
Any algebra where death is not
The tragedy it seems
Wednesday, March 4, 2020
Learn of MATH WOMEN in POEMS!
Amalie "Emmy" Noether (1882–1935)
Following stanzas about Noether's life and achievements, the poem ends with these lines:
Today, history books proclaim that Noether
is the greatest mathematician
her sex has produced. They say she was good
for a woman.