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Ada Lovelace, Mathematician

Augusta Ada Byron, Countess of Lovelace, or otherwise known as Ada Lovelace was born in 1815, and she was an English mathematician the first computer programmer, as she discovered many computer concepts.

She was the daughter of the romantic poet, Lord Byron, even though she was always drawn to mathematics since she was a kid. But her relationship with her father was not very great. In fact, her parents separated when she was just a few months old, and Lovelace never saw her father again.

Her mother insisted that Lovelace learned mathematics since she was very young, this is how she got her passion for science. Back then, science was not a common interest for women, but her mother insisted that her daughter studied science, because she wanted to prevent her from becoming unpredictable like her father.

Her tutors, William Frend, a social reformer, Mary Somerville, a Scottish astronomer and mathematician, and William King, doctor, discovered that she had a talent for numbers and language, subjects that were not at all popular among women back in the day.

She was just 17 years old when she met Charles Babbage, an inventor who also became her friend and mentor. He was considered the father of the computer and invented the difference engine, and because they became very good friends, Lovelace was the first person to see his invention.

She also started studying advanced mathematics with University of London professor Augustus de Morgan in that same year. She translated an article written in Italian by engineer Luigi Federico Menabrea on the analytical engine created by Charles Babbage.

However, she not only translated the article but also put her own thoughts and ideas in the paper, which lead to making the article a lot longer than it initially was. She wrote a few ideas on how to make the engine repeat several instructions, she showed how to create codes for the engine to handle numbers, letters and symbols, and other techniques that made her the first computer programmer of all times.

Her article was published in 1843 in an English science journal, and she signed her paper using the initials “A.A.L.,” for Augusta Ada Lovelace. However, she started having health problems in 1837, after she suffered from cholera. Since then, she had to deal with asthma and other digestive system problems.

Ada Lovelace was never the same, as she was started taking a lot of painkillers, which lead to hallucinations and mood swings. She died on November 27, 1852, from uterine cancer.

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