Ada Lovelace
Ada Lovelace is hailed as the world’s first computer programmer. She was born in 1815, the daughter of the poet Lord Byron. Shortly after Ada’s birth, Lord and Lady Byron separated, leaving Lady Byron to raise Ada on her own. Not wanting Ada to become a poet like her father, Lady Byron made sure Ada was taught mathematics and science. When she was 17, Ada was introduced to Mary Somerville, who translated Laplace’s works into English. At one of Mrs. Somerville’s dinner parties, Ada heard about Charles Babbage‘s idea for the analytical engine, a mechanical computer that would be the successor to the difference engine, which was a design for a mechanical calculator.
In 1842, mathematician Louis Menebrea wrote a summary of the analytical engine in an article in French. Babbage enlisted Ada to translate it into English. Ada translated it and added a set of notes, which ended up being three times as long as the original article. Ada Lovelace and Babbage exchanged correspondence about the engine, and Ada predicted it could have many practical and scientific uses, such as composing complex music and creating graphics. Ada’s notes also included a method of calculating the Bernoulli numbers. This is considered the first computer program.
Unfortunately, the analytical engine was never built, partially due to a lack of funding. Ada died in 1852, at the young age of 36, from uterine cancer.
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Tags: biography, computers, math, women scientists
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