By Amanda Watson (TechWomen Executive Council)
Each year, on the second Tuesday of October, we celebrate Ada Lovelace Day. Ada Lovelace is renowned as a pioneer in STEM and recognised as being the original computer programmer. But who is Ada Lovelace, what is her story and why do we celebrate her?
Early Life and Family Background
Ada Lovelace was born Augusta Ada Byron on 10th December 1815, to Lord Byron and Anne Isabella Milbanke (known as “Lady Byron”). Her father was Lord Byron, the famous poet (Don Juan being one of his most famous pieces) and leading figure of the Romantic movement. Ada holds the title of being Lord Byron’s only legitimate child, as he had several other out of wedlock.
Lady Byron left her husband shortly after Ada was born, due to his consistent infidelities and philandering. Ada did not have a relationship with her father, but carried his name and therefore his fame throughout her life.
Her mother, Lady Byron, was not the maternal type. However, our STEM heroine did find loving comfort via her maternal grandmother who doted on her. Ada found comfort in mathematics and logic, encouraged by her mother to save her from becoming as “feckless” and “purposeless” as her ex-husband. Lady Byron remained bitter about her ex-husband’s lifestyle choices and continued to make allegations about his immoral behaviour throughout the social scene for many years to come.
Image: Lord Byron (the poet) & Ada Lovelace (our heroine!)
Education and Early Interests
Ada was educated privately by tutors and leading mathematician-logicians of the time, quite unusual for women of this period. At thirteen years old, she conceived the idea of building a steam-powered flying machine and spent years trying to figure out how it might operate.
Marriage and Social Expectations
Despite Ada’s longing to lead a scientific life, she was born into a time when a young lady of her stature had a responsibility to follow a conventional middle-class upbringing. At twenty years old, she married Lord William King – 8th Baron. He was a pleasant man who, in due course, inherited the title of Earl of Lovelace. He admired his wife’s intellect and courage greatly; however, it seems he was not an intellectual match for her. They had three children and became the Earl and Countess of Lovelace.
Meeting Charles Babbage
Around this time, she met a man who had an enormous impact on her: Charles Babbage. They met at a party in London, and she was fascinated by his plans to build a calculating machine. Charles invited Ada and her mother to visit him at his London home to see a model of his planned machine. In spite of their twenty-year age gap, Ada and Babbage became firm friends and met often, chaperoned by Lady Bryon.
Image: Charles Babbage (the inspiration)
The Analytical Engine
Babbage was creating a machine that had memory, storage, and punch cards for programming. Ada was fascinated with the machine, visiting him often, and Babbage valued her intellect and analytical skills, referring to her as the “Enchantress of Number”.
Although only a small part of Babbage’s machine was built, Ada was integrally involved in its evolution. Her detailed and elaborate annotations of how the proposed engine could be programmed are greatly revered. She spent nine months translating and recreating Luigi Federico Menabrea’s publication “Sketch of the Analytical Engine Invented by Charles Babbage” with notes by translator Ada Lovelace (1842), which described many aspects of computer architecture and is considered the first modern example of programming.
Legacy
Ada Lovelace died on 27th November 1852 of cancer, but she is remembered via the programming language “Ada” and our annual October celebration of her contribution to STEM.
Research:
Analytical Engine | Description & Facts | Britannica
Ada Lovelace Facts: Who Was She & What Was She Famous For? | HistoryExtra
