Ada byron lovelace mathematician

The second Tuesday of every October is Ada Lovelace Day, in honour of the 19th century mathematician and computer programming pioneer. She was the only legitimate daughter of Lord Byron, who was one of the most debauched and above all, poetic of Englishmen…. You would be forgiven for thinking that it was a previously unheard of volume of prose, or perhaps some unknown poem.

Oh yes, and it was written by none other than Augusta Ada Byron, or as she is better known, Ada Lovelace. Ada was born on December 10th , the only legitimate child of Lord Byron and his wife albeit briefly Annabella Milbanke. Ada suffered what would probably now be described as a traumatic childhood. To combat this Ada was forced to learn science, mathematics and logic which was unusual for women at the time, although not unheard of.

However, she was also severely punished if her work was not up to standard; being forced to lie absolutely still for hours at a time, write apology letters for inferior work or repeat tasks until she achieved perfection. Ada had a passion for the industrial revolution and scientific and engineering innovations of the time. She was also partially paralysed through measles as a child and as a result spent a significant amount of time studying.

Fascinated by this idea, Ada began a furious correspondence with him that would come to define her professional life.

Ada lovelace education

Ada met Babbage when she was around 17 and the two became firm friends. Babbage saw the calculating potential of his machine but Ada saw much, much more. Ada became further involved when she was asked to translate an article written in French on the engine into English because she understood the Analytical Engine so well. She not only translated the article but tripled its length, adding pages and pages of insightful notes, calculations and innovations.

Her notes were published in with the translation of the article and it turned out that what she had written was so original, it is now heralded as the first comprehensive comment on what would become modern day computer programming. Although incredibly impressive, Ada was not actually given credit for the article until