Ada Lovelace, the mathematician known as the world’s first computer programmer, is celebrated today in a Google Doodle on the anniversary of her birth. Augusta Ada King, was the daughter of Lord Byron and his wife Anne Isabella Byron, and was born in London in 1815. Her original name was Augusta Ada Byron and on her marriage to William King she became Ada King and later her husband became an earl, she became the Countess of Lovelace. Ada Lovelace died at the young age of 36 on November 27, 1852 of uterine cancer.
Her work on Charles Babbage’s Analytical Engine and notes on it are seen as the world’s first algorithm, thus earning her the the distinction of being the world’s first computer programmer.
Today is the 197th anniversary of her birth, and the Google Doodle in her honour portrays the Countess writing equations onto a long sheet of paper with a quill.
The progression from her calculations to the modern day laptop is also detailed in the image, with three interim images of technological breakthroughs in computing since the 19th century.
Charles Babbage called her the ‘Enchantress of Numbers’. Though there has been some disagreements over the extent of Ada Lovelace ‘s contribution to early computing, the computer language Ada is named after her and a medal is awarded in her name by the British Computer Society.
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