Ada Lovelace
MATHEMATICIAN AND ENGINEER
(1815 - 1852)
Augusta Ada King-Noel, Countess of Lovelace
and daughter of the poet Lord Byron, was an
English mathematician and writer, chiefly known
for her work on Charles Babbage's proposed
mechanical general-purpose computer, the
Analytical Engine. She was the first to recognize
that the machine had applications beyond pure
calculation and created the first algorithm
intended to be carried out by such a machine. As
a result, she is often regarded as the first to
recognize the full potential of a "computing
machine" and the first computer programmer.
Kathleen M Cook
ENGINEER (1910 - 1971)
Cook was born in London in 1910 and
educated at La Convent of the Sainte Union
des Sacres Coeurs, North London, followed
by a 7 year apprenticeship in 1928 at
Hercules Engineering Company, in North
London. In 1942 she was appointed director
of Hercules Aircraft Construction Co Ltd and
in 1945 was a founder member of Universal
Equipment Co Ltd. In 1949 she set up Kainder
Ltd, to make her own invention, the Kainder
Mobile Bed. She was a fellow of the Institute
of Production Engineering and of the
Institution of British Foundrymen (their first
female fellow). Kathleen joined the Women's
Engineering Society in 1931, joining the
council in 1936, vice president in 1951 and
president in 1955-6.
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