Limor Fried facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Limor Fried
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Limor Fried at TechCrunch Disrupt NY (2013)
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| Other names | ladyada |
| Alma mater | MIT (SB, 2003; MEng 2005) |
| Occupation | Electrical engineer |
| Known for | Adafruit Industries Open source movement Open-source hardware movement |
| Spouse(s) | Phillip Torrone |
Limor Fried is an amazing American electrical engineer. She owns a cool company called Adafruit Industries that makes electronics for people who love to build things. Limor is a very important person in the world of open-source hardware. This means she helps make sure that designs for electronic parts are shared freely. She is also known by her nickname, ladyada, which is a tribute to Lady Ada Lovelace, an early computer programmer.
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Limor's Journey and Achievements
Limor Fried studied at a famous school called MIT. She earned degrees in electrical engineering and computer science in 2003 and 2005. While at MIT, she worked on a fun project. She designed glasses that would darken when a TV was in view. She also made a small device to stop cell phones from working in someone's personal space.
Starting Adafruit Industries
In 2005, Limor started her company, Adafruit Industries. She began in her dorm room at MIT! Later, she moved the company to New York City. Adafruit designs and sells electronic kits, parts, and tools. These are mostly for people who enjoy building electronics as a hobby.
By 2010, her company had eight employees. They shipped over $3 million worth of products. Adafruit's goal is not just for adult hobbyists. They also want to help teach younger kids about science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). Adafruit believes in sharing ideas and resources. All employees get the same benefits and paid time off to volunteer.
Awards and Recognition
Limor Fried has received many awards for her work. In 2009, she won the EFF Pioneer Award from the Electronic Frontier Foundation. This was for her work in the open-source hardware and software community.
In 2011, Fast Company magazine named her one of the Most Influential Women in Technology. She also became the first female engineer to be on the cover of Wired magazine. In that magazine, she talked about how easy it is now to find parts online. She said, "Now everything is online. You can just Google the parts to make your submarine."
In 2012, Limor told CNET that she hoped kids would see her work and think, "I could do that!" She wants to inspire young people to become engineers and entrepreneurs. She also said, "We want to make sure people can actually build stuff, too."
Awards and Honors
- 2009 EFF Pioneer Award by the Electronic Frontier Foundation
- 2011 Most Influential Women in Technology award by Fast Company magazine
- 2012 Entrepreneur "Entrepreneur of the Year". She was the only woman among 15 finalists.
- 2015 White House Champion of Change (Making)
- 2018 Forbes' America's Top 50 Women In Tech.
- 2019 STEP Ahead Honoree, Women in Manufacturing by The Manufacturing Institute
- 2019 Women in Open Source Award (Community) by Red Hat
- 2023 GitHub Awards - Hardware Hacker
The Open Kinect Project
In 2010, Microsoft launched a device called Kinect for their Xbox 360 game console. Limor Fried and Phillip Torrone started a challenge. They offered $1,000 to anyone who could create an open-source driver for Kinect. An open-source driver lets people use the Kinect with other devices.
At first, Microsoft seemed unhappy about this. They said they did not like people changing their products. Adafruit then increased the prize to $2,000, and then to $3,000!
Later, Microsoft changed its mind. After people made great progress with the open-source drivers, Microsoft spokespeople said they were excited to see what the community created.
Limor's Personal Life
Limor Fried is married to Phillip Torrone. He is the founder of Hackaday and has worked for other tech magazines. Limor and Phillip welcomed a baby in 2022.
See also
In Spanish: Limor Fried para niños
- Adafruit Industries
- Ayah Bdeir – entrepreneur and founder of littleBits
- Becky Stern – Maker and the former director of Wearable Electronics at Adafruit
- Jeri Ellsworth – entrepreneur and inventor of C64 Direct-to-TV
