The First Computer Programmer Was a Female Mathematician

The First Computer Programmer Was a Female Mathematician

• Ada Lovelace was an intelligent and brilliant British mathematician and the daughter of the English poet Lord Byron. She is also considered to be the first-ever computer programmer in history.
• Ada was born on December 10, 1815, in London, England. Ada excelled in mathematics and was interested in numbers and fascinated by number theories.
• Ada Lovelace started working with British Mathematician Charles Babbage, who is known as "The Father of Computers". She was in particular interested in Babbage's work on the Analytical Engine. 
• Charles Babbage also created one of the earliest models of mechanical computers and was called the Difference Engine. This machine is also considered one of the cornerstones for modern calculators.
• Ada became an essential factor in Babbage’s work and became one of his most experienced apprentices. She also translated the works of an Italian engineer, who later became the Prime Minister of Italy, Luigi Federico Menabrea. 

Her Notes on Luigi’s Article

• One of Luigi Federico Menabrea's articles included a model of an Analytical Engine. In addition to translation, Lovelace annotated the articles with her own notes. However, her notes were three times as long as Menabrea’s original article. She published it in 1843 via an English journal.

First computer program

• The first computer program is generally dated to 1843 when mathematician Ada Lovelace published an algorithm to calculate a sequence of Bernoulli numbers, intended to be carried out by Charles Babbage's Analytical Engine.

• Consequently, this makes her the First Computer Programmer. She also predicted that computers would do more than calculations.
• Sadly, Ada Lovelace died in 1852 at the early age of 36. However, her legacy still remains to this day. Every year, on the 13 October, Ada Lovelace Day is celebrated.