Ada Lovelace Day: Who she was – and why we should remember her

Yes these days there may be a lack of women in science and technology fields, but did you know that the first ever computer programmer was actually a woman?

To mark the occasion, the Science Museum in London opened a free exhibition today highlighting the work and life of the “Victorian pioneer of the computer age”.

Lovelace was born on 10 December 1815, the daughter of Anne Isabella Noel and Lord Byron.

In an attempt to counter the possibility of Lovelace inheriting Byron’s wild traits, Milbanke ensured her daughter was grounded in scientific, rather than creative, pursuits, enrolling the child in a math-heavy curriculum, Mashable reports.

Spearheaded by Suw, the annual celebration of inspirational women in science, technology, engineering and maths has evolved from those 1,979 blogs being written in 2009 to full scale events now taking place around the world.

Lovelace was first introduced to Charles Babbage, the Lucasian Professor of Mathematics and the “Father of Computers” in 1833. Because of funding issues, the machine was not built during her and Babbage’s lifetimes.

“Intelligent she might have been, but she was also manipulative and aggressive, a drug addict, a gambler and an adulteress”, Hannah Fry, BBC presenter and mathematician, wrote of Lovelace after creating a documentary on her.

She translated an Italian article describing the Analytical Engine for publication in England and her translation contains several early “computer programs”.

Lovelace’s assertions – completed in 1842 after a year’s work – were over a hundred years before their time, and as well as laying the groundwork for programming, predicted the ability of computers to do nearly anything, including abstract operations such as weaving textile patterns, and writing music. The algorithm enabled a machine to calculate Bernoulli numbers.

The Science Museum’s exhibition is open from 10am to 6pm daily (10pm Fridays) until 31 March.