Behind the Brand
Why AdaMarie?
AdaMarie was founded in honor of two scientific trailblazers: Ada Lovelace and Marie Curie. These two pioneering women helped establish the fundamentals of modern science we know and practice today. As we design these pieces at AdaMarie, we consider their contributions and legacies. In their honor, we have created a bold and empowering curated line of jewelry, perfect for the confident scientist.Â
About Ada Lovelace
Born on December 10, 1815 in London, Augusta Ada Byron was the only child of famed poet Lord Byron and his wife Lady Anne Isabella Milbanke Byron. Lord Byron was known for his fiery temperament, and very shortly after Ada was born, Lord Byron left England, leaving Lovelace to grow up only with her mother. To prevent Ada from developing the same disposition as her father, Ada’s mother insisted that Ada stay away from the arts and invest her time in more practical fields like math and science. She eventually changed her name to Ada Lovelace when she married William King, who became the Earl of Lovelace.
Around the age of 17, Lovelace met Charles Babbage, a mathematician and inventor and was fascinated by his ideas. While advancing her studies, she got the chance to see some of Babbage’s inventions that analyzed and tabulated complex mathematical functions. Lovelace was later asked to translate an article written about Babbage’s analytical machine. Not only did she translate it, but she also added her own input. Her response was longer than the original article, describing how the codes could be edited to include letters and symbols, in addition to numbers.Â
Although pioneering, her works received little attention while she was alive. She is widely considered to be the first computer programmer -- even today, modern computing uses looping, a method she first explained in the mid-1800’s. Recognized as the mother of computing, she documented that machines could do no more than calculations. She grasped that anything that could be converted to numbers could then be manipulated by algorithms, having the potential to revolutionize how the world worked. Lovelace’s brilliant intelligence, biting wit, and insatiable drive to explore the field of computer science and mathematics are her unending legacy.
About Marie Curie
Marie Curie, née Maria Sklodowska, was born in Poland in 1867, where she began her scientific studies. After moving to Paris in 1891, she assumed the name Marie and began following lectures at the Sorbonne, where she met world-renowned physicists. Three years after moving, she met physicist Pierre Curie, and they married in 1895. Shortly thereafter, Marie discovered polonium, which she named after her native Poland, then radium a few months later. She also discovered thorium at the same time as another scientist.Â
While Pierre mainly focused on studying radioactivity, Marie devoted herself to studying new elements. In 1903, they shared the Nobel Prize in Physics for the discovery of radioactivity with Henri Becquerel. After Pierre’s sudden death in 1906, Marie was appointed to the professorship that her husband had held. She was also the first woman to teach in the Sorbonne. Two years later she became titular professor, and another two years after that, her work on radioactivity was published, which earned the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the isolation of pure radium. During World War I, along with her daughter, Marie devoted herself to the development of X-radiography, which put her research into real world application.Â
One of Marie Curie’s outstanding achievements was to have understood the need to accumulate intense radioactive sources, not only to treat illness but also to maintain an abundant supply for research in nuclear physics. Her stockpile was an essential tool for scientists until the appearance of particle accelerators. Her contributions to science have been immense. Aside from her medicinal research advancements, she was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize, and the only person to ever win a Nobel Prize in two scientific fields. She still holds that distinction today. Marie Curie’s prolific and remarkable career inspires us each and every day, and we hope our jewelry echoes the immense footprint that she left on the world.
Why We Love Them
Lovelace’s work wasn’t celebrated at the time, but her revolutionary insight was years ahead of her contemporaries. She was bold and confident in her knowledge and theories. Her posthumous recognition shows how truly innovative and groundbreaking her work was. Conversely, Curie was recognized for her achievements during her lifetime. Her own work garnered much support, but also laid the foundation for subsequent generations of physicists and chemists. Through their work and accomplishments, these trailblazing women laid the foundation for scientists in all fields. Despite adverse circumstances, they overcame hardship and staked claims in male-dominated arenas, pioneering a place for women in all realms of science. Frankly, we couldn’t think of two better women as inspirational pillars for our collection -- they rock.