Ada Lovelace‘s zero fear of code
Role models matter, especially for young women who want to be creators, designers, and developers
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An homage to the world’s first computer programmer
Ada Lovelace, Countess of Lovelace (née Byron), was born as Augusta Ada Byron, Lady Byron, December 10, 1815, in Middlesex, now London, England, to Lord and Lady Byron. Ada became famous as an English mathematician, writer, creative thinker, and has been named the world’s first computer programmer.[2] (Wiki link)
We know Lord Byron, her father, for his extensive romantic poetry, much of it written while traveling across Europe during the romantic era of the early 1800’s.
Ada’s parents legally separated when Ada was only two months old. As Ada was growing up, she was tutored privately. Ada’s mother, Lady Byron, supported and helped develop Ada’s early interest in mathematics and logic in an effort to prevent her from developing her father’s perceived insanity. Lord Byron passed away at age of 36, in 1824, when Ada was only 8 years old.
Ada’s creative mind
“If you can’t give me poetry, can’t you give me poetical science?” — Ada Lovelace
Ada pursued her studies in mathematics and advanced calculus steadfastly with several distinguished teachers. She often described her approach to mathematics as poetical science and herself as an analyst and metaphysician.
Ada inherited her father’s love of language, and her mother’s sense of perseverance and confidence. In the early 1840's, she embarked on the project to translate the seminal work by Italian engineer, mathematician, and Prime Minister of Italy (1867–1869) Luigi Menabrea [3], Sketch of the Analytical Engine, (offsite link), about a machine invented by Charles Babbage, (offsite link), an English mathematician, inventor and mechanical engineer, Babbage originated the concept of a digital programmable computer.
Ada extensively annotated Luigi Menabrea’s essay, and these annotations are widely considered to be the first complete computer program. Thus, Ada Lovelace, daughter of Lord & Lady Byron, has been given the…
