Paola Antonelli and Alice Rawsthorn celebrate Women in Tech on Ada Lovelace Day

Every year, the second Tuesday in October is designated as Ada Lovelace Day as a tribute to its namesake, Ada Lovelace, the 19th century mathematician and pioneering computer programmer who collaborated with Charles Babbage on the design of his remarkable mechanical computer, the Analytical Machine. To celebrate Ada Lovelace Day 2025, Alice and Paola are dedicating this special episode of Design Emergency to celebrating her achievements and those of other remarkable women who have honoured Ada’s legacy in different ways, making crucial contributions to the digital age. 

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Some of them have designed and delivered transformational advances in technology, such as Britain’s ingenious female code-breakers at Bletchley Park during World War II, Ida Holz, the Uruguayan computer scientist and engineer who pioneered the internet in Latin America, and Stacy Horn, who designed one of the first online communities in ECHO.

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Others have developed inspiring ways of improving existing systems: both by alerting us to new possibilities, and by identifying or defusing unexpected dangers, as the Chinese-born, US-based computer scientist Fei-Fei Li has done, and the Kenyan tech designer and activist, Juliana Rotich. While Jay-Ann Lopez, founder of the global network of Black Girl Gamers and new media pioneer, Lynn Hershman Leeson, are at the forefront of challenging stereotypes and championing diversity, inclusivity and equity within tech design, thereby helping to make it fitter for purpose and to realise its true potential. 

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We hope you’ll enjoy this episode. You can find images of the projects Alice and Paola describe on our Instagram @design.emergency. Please join us for future episodes of Design Emergency when we will hear from inspiring global design leaders who are in the forefront of forging positive change.

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Design Emergency is supported by a grant from the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts

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