Adventures in Feministory: Ada Lovelace, First Computer Programmer

Lady Ada King, Countess of Lovelace—better known as Ada Lovelace—described herself as an analyst and metaphysician in her only published article. Seeing as how that article included what is cited as the first computer program and the first incidence of computers being assigned abilities beyond mathematical functions, her description rings true. Born in 1815 to Lord Byron, moody English poet, and Anne Isabelle Milbanke, "princess of parallelograms," Ada was primed to develop what she once called "poetical science."

Although Ada was Byron’s only legitimate child, he had virtually no relationship with her. Frustrated and at times frightened by the poet’s mood swings and erratic behavior, Ada’s mother separated from her husband shortly after Ada’s birth; Lord Byron then left England when Ada was only a few months old, never to return. Milbanke, who was herself a talented mathematician, insisted on giving Ada an intensive arithmetical education—while she also allowed her daughter to pursue music, she opposed excessive studies of that which she considered "poetical." Ada was indeed skilled with numbers, so much that she outstripped a number of her tutors’ abilities, but she often devoted her skills to more whimsical applications than her mother preferred, such as designing flying machines at the age of thirteen.

In her late teens, Ada found a mentor and friend in Mary Somerville, who in the 1820s had published English translations and explanations of Laplace’s mathematics. At one of Somerville’s dinner parties, Ada met Charles Babbage, and was intrigued by his explanation of the Difference Engine that he had designed and partially built. Her interest in his project developed into a close friendship that involved the two of them exchanging letters and advising one another on their work; their correspondence has led to some controversy over how much credit each of them deserves for ideas presented in Ada’s published piece.

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http://bitchmagazine.org/post/adventures-in-feministory-ada-lovelace-first-computer-programmer


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And women STILL have trouble getting IT and programming jobs!