Ada Lovelace (1815-1852) is known as the first computer programmer. Despite living during a time when women were not considered scientific thinkers, her contributions to computer science are indispensable–and indisputable.
Ada Lovelace (1815-1852) is known as the first computer programmer. Despite living during a time when women were not considered scientific thinkers, her contributions to computer science are indispensable–and indisputable.
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This month, we’re highlighting innovators - women who helped shape the world we live in today – from inventors to activists.
Today's innovator is known as the first computer programmer. Despite living during a time when women were not considered scientific thinkers, her contributions to computer science are indispensable – and indisputable. Let’s talk about Ada Lovelace.
Augusta Ada [AY-duh] Byron was born on December 10, 1815, in London, England to Lord and Lady Byron. Lord Byron was a famous poet and Lady Bryon was a mathematician. The two were opposites. Lady Byron was a woman of logic and science. Lord Byron was a man of imagination and romance. Shortly after Ada’s birth, Lady Bryon left, and moved Ada out of their family home.
In an effort to keep Ada from inheriting her father’s fanciful behaviors, Lady Byron educated her daughter in arithmetic, music, and French. She wanted to suppress Ada’s imagination, fearing that it was “dangerous and potentially destructive”. Lady Byron provided Ada with the best tutors. In turn, Ada fell in love with numbers.
One of those tutors was Mary Somerville, a scientist and writer. Mary was responsible for introducing Ada to two very important people in her life - her husband and her mentor.
When she was 17, Ada made her debut into society. At the party, Mary introduced Ada to the renowned mathematician, Charles Babbage [rhymes with ‘cabbage’]. Charles captivated Ada with his most recent invention – a two-foot-high brass mechanical calculator called the Difference Engine. After seeing the prototype in action,
Ada began an almost two-decade-long correspondence with Charles.
When Ada was 19, she married William King. Three years later, William became an earl and Ada became the Countess of Lovelace [literally “love lace”]. William and Ada had 3 children together and remained married until her death.
Married life did not keep Ada from her first love: math.
In 1842, Charles Babbage had set his sights on a new invention called the Analytical Engine. Ada was once again taken with the idea and became its interpreter. Although the machine was never built, the plans for it are believed to be the world’s first digital computer. It had all of the necessary components and features of a modern day computer.
With the hopes of securing finances for this project, Charles had an Italian mathematician write a paper on the machine. The paper was published in a Swiss academic journal in October 1842. The next year, Ada published the English translation with her own notes. While the original paper was about 8 thousand words, Ada’s version was 20 thousand.
Ada’s “Notes” are considered her greatest contribution to computer science. They went beyond simply describing how the Engine worked.
Ada explained that this machine would be able to understand symbols and could be used to create music and art. She also included a plan for using the Analytical Engine to calculate Bernoulli numbers. This plan is known as the first computer program.
Ada had developed a personal philosophy that she called “poetical science,” a combination of science and imagination. She saw math and logic as creative and imaginative.
Ada envisioned a world in which computers could perform faster and more accurate analyses than humans. She imagined the modern-day general-purpose computer a century before its creation.
In August 1843, Ada wrote Charles a letter offering to be the public face of the machine. In modern-day terms, Charles was the Steve Wozniak of Apple. He needed Ada to be his Steve Jobs. But because of Charles’ sexist view of women, he couldn’t see Ada as more than an “interpretress” of his work. He rejected her offer, and the evolution of the computer was delayed by a century.
Although Ada’s contributions are highly regarded today, this was not always the case. Years after her publication, scholars challenged the significance of Ada’s work. They believed her talents were blown out of proportion.
As the importance of computer programming grew, there was an attempt to reclaim it as a “male activity”. Ada’s talents were often described as masculine. But she is an example of what women are capable of when they are given a window of opportunity - even if it's a small one.
Ada died on November 27, 1852, at the age of 36 from uterine cancer.
In 1980, the U.S. Department of Defense developed a software language called Ada; it brought together several different programming languages. Founded in 2009, the second Tuesday of every October marks Ada Lovelace Day.
For more information and pictures of some of the work we’re talking about, find us on Facebook and Instagram @womanicapodcast.
Special thanks to Liz Kaplan, my favorite sister and co-creator.
Talk to you tomorrow!