Ada Lovelace, English Mathematician

Augusta Ada King, Countess of Lovelace (December 10, 1815 - November 27, 1852), born Augusta Ada Byron and now commonly known as Ada Lovelace, was an English mathematician and writer. She was the only legitimate child of the poet Lord Byron and his wife Anne Isabella Byron. She described her approach as poetical science and herself as an analyst and metaphysician. As a young adult, her mathematical talents led her to an ongoing working relationship and friendship with fellow British mathematician Charles Babbage, and in particular Babbage's work on the Analytical Engine. Between 1842-43, Ada translated an article by Italian military engineer Luigi Menabrea on the engine, supplementing it with an elaborate set of notes. These notes contain what many consider to be the first computer program, an algorithm designed to be carried out by a machine. Lovelace's notes are important in the early history of computers. Because of this, she is often described as the world's first computer programmer. She also developed a vision of the capability of computers to go beyond mere calculating, while many others, including Babbage himself, focused only on those capabilities. Lovelace died at the age of 36 in 1852, from uterine cancer probably exacerbated by bloodletting by her physicians

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12697490

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47704457

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3168px x 4200px (1.3MB)

Credit

British Library/Science Source/Mary Evans