Ada Lovelace: Mother of Modern Computing

From time to time I like to write about interesting people who have made a contribution to the world, but most of us don't know of.  Ada Lovelace is one such person.  Born in London, in 1915, she was the child of Lord Byron, the famous (although mad, they say) poet.  She never knew him, as he abandoned Ada and her mother when Ada was one month old.  Ada's mother was Anne Isabella Milbanke, a highly intelligent, well educated aristocrat.  She was especially interested in math and science, and wanted a good education for her daughter.  She was not a nurturing mother, and Ada was brought up by her maternal grandmother and servants.  She was home schooled, concentrating on math and science.

Because of her aristocratic status Ada met many professors and mathematicians during her youth, and became more and more excited and interested in the field of mathematics.  She discussed high level mathematics with them.  In 1842 Ada heard of a paper called Sketch of Charls Babbage's Analytical Engine, which was written in French.  She knew Babbage, and translated the paper from French-English, adding extensive notes about the analytical engine concept.  She is cited as the world's first computer programmer.  She broke new ground in computing, identifying the analytical engine as an entirely new concept.  She realized an analytical engine could go beyond numbers.  This was the first ever perception of a modern computer.

What a life, for a woman in a man's world, when women weren't even allowed into courses in math and science.  If she had not been from an aristocratic background, none of this would have ever happened, for her status opened doors to men and women of great intellect. In between all her mathematics work, she married and had several children.  Ada Lovelace was quite a woman.