Okay firstly I have to admit that I had never heard of Ada Lovelace before my lovely colleagues at TechnoPhobia sponsored and built the Ada Lovelace Day website. Although I had heard of her father Lord Byron, whose colourful private life would give any premier league footballer a run for their money. I think the fact I hadn’t heard of her tells a story that she hasn’t been fully recognised as much as she should have for her achievements, inventing the world’s first algorithm specifically tailored for a computer. Her achievements should be more widely recognised up there with the likes of Thomas Edison etc.
It was a tough decision to choose someone I believe has made an outstanding contribution to technology, having come across many inspirational women in Technology throughout my life (my colleague had to talk me out of choosing Annie Nightingale the BBC’s longest standing and first female broadcaster). In the end I settled on Martha Lane Fox, who in 1998 who co-founded Lastminute.com. Whatever your views on the lastminute.com you cannot deny that it was a pioneer in e-commerce websites.
Although not a technologist in the same sense as Ada Lovelace, an inventor, technology is more than inventing and developing the latest piece of code. It is having the foresight to spot opportunities of how that code can impact people’s lives and bring about real benefits. Being a proper entrepreneur Martha spotted the impact the web was going to have on the way we buy holidays and moved early to setup a company synonymous with the web.
She has also gone on to do much more post lastminute.com, such as work for many charities, become a UK Government’s Digital Inclusion Champion and setup Antigone, a grant giving foundation that gives small grants to start up or early stage charities in healthcare, education and criminal justice. A true inspiration!
