The history of the web has been written by great men and remarkable women. On the occasion of International Women's Day, Assoprovider recounts the lives, discoveries, and successes of five women who have made significant contributions to the birth of the Internet and its dissemination.
Ada Lovelace, the first programmer in history
In the distant 1830, a woman, Ada Lovelace design a machine capable of performing complex mathematical calculations. Daughter of an English poet, the famous Lord Byron, the woman had shown a great passion for mathematics from a young age, thanks to an exceptional mentor, another woman, Mary Sommerville, another illustrious mathematician.
The machine designed by Lovelace was never actually built. However, the scientific articles and the woman's designs will then be used to build the first computers. Lovelace is considered today the first programmer that history has known.
Edith Clarke, inventor of the Clarke calculator
Among the pioneers of the Internet, there is another inventor, Edith Clark, disappeared in 1959. With studies in mathematics, astronomy, and engineering, Clarke is another record-breaking woman: she was the first female engineer and also the first female lecturer to teach at the University of Colorado.
Thanks to his skills, he also holds a prominent role at General Electric. Many are his inventions: among these a calculator, called "Clarke", cutting-edge for its time: it was able, in fact, to perform some calculations up to 10 times faster than other tools known until then.
Radia Perlman, the creator of the STP protocol
The Internet as we know it today would not exist without the contribution of Radia Perlman, considered by many as "the mother of the Internet," even though she has repeatedly stated to not love this definition.
In any case, Perlman is in the history of Internet development thanks to the invention of the STP protocol. Acronym for Spanning Tree Protocol, it is a branched system that allows access to the information present on a network at any time, while simultaneously preventing the duplication of identical data on the network nodes.
Formed in the cradle of innovation of MIT, Radia developed the STP in 1985, at the age of 35. Information technology is also known for its commitment to educating young people: it has developed several simplified languages for children, such as TORTIS.
Italian women making Internet history
In the list we have compiled, there are also two pioneers of our country: Valeria Rossi and Laura Abba.
In 1988, Valeria Rossi was a very young scholar when Garr (Gruppo per l’Armonizzazione della Rete e della Ricerca) entrusted her with the task of creating a first version of the naming rules, which are the regulations governing the assignment of domain names, one of the first procedural standards supporting the Network.
Laura Abba is among the protagonists of the birth of the Internet in Italy. Mathematics, specialized in computer science, is in the team that in 1986 launches the first signal from Cnuce to Roaring Creek, effectively connecting Italy to the Internet for the first time on April 30 of that year. In addition to this, Abba participates in other projects that contribute to the spread of the Internet in Italy.
Would you like to read more stories about Internet pioneers? Read https://assoprovider.it/steve-jobs-3-curiosita-anniversario-nas/