Ada Lovelace played a significant role in today’s society – not only by inventing the world’s first computer programme, but also as an inspirational role model for women in STEM everywhere.
We celebrate Ada Lovelace Day by bringing you stories from some of the lives she continues to touch to this day.
Hailed as the first computer programmer, Ada was born in 1815 to Annabella Milbanke and the famous poet Lord Byron. Ada had an unusual education for a woman of that time as her mother, who had mathematical training, insisted that Ada learn mathematics too.
In 1833 Ada attended a party at which she met Charles Babbage, who is credited for inventing the first mechanical computer. Ada became inspired when Babbage demonstrated the small working section of an engine to her. By 1843, she published a translation of a French article on the Analytical Engine which included extensive notes of her own. These notes included a visionary insight into the potential of computers to act upon things other than numbers, such as composing elaborate pieces of music with huge complexity or analysing all subjects in the universe. The notes also included a step-by-step sequence of operations for solving mathematical problems, the world’s first complete computer programme - marking the significant leap from calculation to computation.