Ada Lovelace, the world’s first computer programmer
As the first computer programmer, Ada Lovelace is a symbol for women in tech. The Ada Lovelace Day, every year on the second Tuesday in October, celebrates the achievements of women in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). In 2023 that is the 10th of October.
Augusta Ada Byron was born 10th December 1815, as the daughter of Anne Isabella Noel-Byron and famous English romantic poet Lord Byron. In 1835, she married William King-Noel, 1st Earl of Lovelace, She died in London 1852, only 37 years old.
“About a century before Konrad Zuse designed the first programmable computing machine, in the 1840s, Ada Lovelace wrote the first computer programme in the world. From a modern perspective, her work is visionary”, says Anna Siffert, professor of theoretical mathematics, at Max Planck Society’s website for women scientists.
“In her lifetime, her scientific contributions hardly attracted any attention. It wasn’t until the 20th century, with the beginning of the computer age, that the significance of her notes was recognized.”
“Today she is world famous, not least because in the 1970s, the computer language ADA was named after her. For her achievements, she is rightly called a pioneer of modern computer science”, Siffert explains.
Even though she wrote about a computer, the Analytical Engine, that was never built, she had understood that the computer could follow a series of simple instructions, a program, to perform a complex calculation.
Today’s big tech companies hopefully celebrate her day every year.
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