Watercolor portrait of Ada King, Countess of Lovelace (Ada Lovelace)

"That brain of mine is something more than merely mortal; as time will show." ~Ada Byron Lovelace

Ada Byron Lovelace was a woman well ahead of her years who contributed greatly to the creation of computer programming. Born on December 10, 1815, Lovelace experienced many hardships as a child due to the loss of her father and her mother’s strictness. She showed brilliance in her early years and continued to develop her skills greatly over time. When she was old enough to explore her interests further, she met Charles Babbage,the father of computers, and despite their great age gap he believed in her and took her under his wing. As his mentee, Lovelace further developed her studies of mathematics and quickly earned the respect of her mentor.

In regards to her great achievements, she was asked to publish a translation from Italian to French of an article on the Analytical Engine by an Italian engineer, Luigi Menabrea, to which Ada added extensive notes of her own. The notes included the first published description of a stepwise sequence of operations for solving certain mathematical problems. After this publication she was regarded to as the first computer programmer but sadly she wasn’t given public recognition for her work until after she had died. Ada Lovelace led a life of determination and confidence in oneself which led to her great contributions to early computer programming and gave inspiration to many women in future generations to come.