About
Ada Lovelace, born Augusta Ada Byron in 1815, was an English mathematician, daughter of poet Lord Byron. Educated in mathematics by Mary Somerville and Augustus De Morgan, she collaborated with Charles Babbage on his Analytical Engine. In 1843, she published an annotated translation of a paper by Luigi Menabrea, including an algorithm for calculating Bernoulli numbers, considered the first computer program. She died in 1852.
* 1815-12-10 — † 1852-11-27
Major works
- Sketch of the Analytical Engine Invented by Charles Babbage, Esq. with Notes by the Translator (1843)scientific article
Key milestones
- 1833Met Charles Babbage, beginning an intellectual collaboration.
- 1843Published her notes on the Analytical Engine, including the first computer program.
- 1979The programming language Ada was named in her honor by the U.S. Department of Defense.
Themes
Mechanical computationAlgorithmicsSymbols and abstractionScientific collaborationRole of women in science
Sources: collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk · blogs.bodleian.ox.ac.uk · computerhistory.org
