Who is Ada Lovelace, the First Computer Programmer in the World?

 

Names that we often hear in the field of computers and technology are usually male names. We all think that men are more interested in technological developments and devices than women. However, many of us have noticed that men's names are also in our memories in studies that lead big initiatives in the field of technology such as computer programming.

However, contrary to popular belief, the person who is described as the first computer programmer is not a man but a woman. Ada Lovelace, who is seen as one of the most important female inventors who fit important studies in her short life and inspires future computer programmers, has made a great contribution to laying the foundations of computer programs that have taken over most of our lives today.

 

Since 2009, the second Tuesday of every October has been known as "Ada Lovelace Day" in order to emphasize the importance of her work and to introduce the woman inventor Ada Lovelace, who laid the foundation of computer programming. So who is Ada Lovelace, this strong woman who left her mark on the whole world with her works, let's get to know her better.

 

Her Real Name Isn't Ada Lovelace

Ada Lovelace, the daughter of a poet father and inheriting her fondness for mathematics from her mother, was born on December 10, 1815 in London. The inventor, whose real name is Augusta Ada Byron, is known to the world as Ada Lovelace, not by her real name. This name is the name she started to use after her marriage to Lord Lovelace in 1835.

 

His father, Lovelace, separated from his mother a month after he was born, leaving England. When Ada was 8 years old, he died of illness in the Greek War of Independence. Ada's mother was angry with her husband, Lord Byron, and supported her daughter's interest in mathematics and logic so that Ada would not become a poet, as she saw her fondness for literature as insanity. Ada Lovelace also studied mathematics, astronomy, Latin, and music.

 

Childhood Years Passed With Diseases

 

Ada Lovelace, who was constantly ill as a child, had a very difficult childhood. At the age of 8, Lovelace suffered from severe headaches that prevented her from seeing. She had measles in 1829 and subsequently became paralyzed. Despite being confined to bed for about a year, Lovelace did not lose her interest in mathematics and decided to improve herself.

 

She received training from the scientists of the period

 

Ada Lovelace, who was educated by the important scientists of the 19th century, William King, Mary Somerville and William Frend, had the chance to be one of the students of Augustus De Morgan, who was known as the master of logic and mathematics at a young age. Her mathematical talent, which she was passionate about from an early age, started to come to the fore in her early youth, after the age of 17.

 

Her important works emerged after she met Charles Babbage.

 

Ada Lovelace, who met Charles Babbage, one of the greatest mathematics professors of Cambridge University, who is quite famous in positive sciences, in 1833, undertook many studies in the field of mathematics and logic with the Professor. Impressed by Lovelace's mathematical talent, Babbage focused on Ada's education and played an important role in the successful woman's life.

Known as the Inventor, Ada Lovelace is also Mother and Countess

 

Lovelace, whose real name was Augusta Ada Byron, became Countess of Lovelace in 1838 after marrying William King in 1835. Ada Lovelace, who has a daughter and two sons, has not stopped working even after becoming a mother of three children. She saw mathematics and music as a point of escape from the stress of family life and was very careful not to stop her development process.

 

She Succeeded as a Woman Inventor in the Male-Dominated Era

 

We all know that even today, women struggle to be equal with men in many fields. However, in Ada Lovelace's lifetime, women were seen as a family object, no matter how educated they were. Thanks to her determination and success in the 1800s, Ada Lovelace became a woman who managed to have her name written in gold letters not only in that period but also in history.

 

Known as "The Magician of Numbers" during her lifetime

 

Ada Lovelace brought a poetic approach to science by blending the poetic side she received from her father with her mother's mathematical talent. With this approach, she defined herself as an analyst and metaphysician. In her youth, her mathematical talents developed into work and friendship with British mathematics professor Charles Babbage. In particular, it was instrumental in Lovelace's work with the famous mathematician on "Analytical Engines".

 

Between 1842 and 1843, she translated the article written by Luigi Menabrea, the Engineer of the Italian Army, on the engine, supporting it with her own detailed notes. These notes contain what can be described as the first computer program, the first algorithm designed to be made by a machine. Lovelace's work and notes have had a very important place in the history of computer programming.

While working together at Cambridge, Charles Babbage, who noticed Ada Lovelace's mathematical talent and was one of her mentors in this field, gave Ada an interesting nickname. Babbage chose to refer to Ada Lovelace as the "Wizard of Numbers". Ada's extraordinary passion and talent for mathematics has earned her this nickname.

 

Ada Lovelace Brings Difference Machine to Life

 

Although it is quite far from the computers we use today, Charles Babbage was working on a primitive computer called the "Difference Machine" in the 1800s. This computer, which was worked on for the purpose of transferring texts, music and pictures to digital media, came to life thanks to a computational system, or algorithm, created by Ada Lovelace. Thanks to this algorithm, Ada Lovelace is known as the inventor of computer programming.

 

Her work on Different Machine and her ideas about the machine's operating instructions were published in 1843. However, since it was not considered appropriate for a woman to publish a book on her own behalf under the conditions of the time, she unfortunately could not include her name in the book and only had her initials written. As a result, her work has been largely forgotten and lost over time, as has happened to many other women of science.

The famous mathematician Ada Lovelace, who spent her childhood with diseases, died on November 27, 1852, after succumbing to uterine cancer. He reunited with his father after he died by demanding to be buried next to his father, as he never lost his love and interest for his father, who died before he met him. After her death, Ada Lovelace's work inspired many scientists.

 

Even today we can see what impact Ada Lovelace's work had on computer programming. Ada, a computer language created for the benefit of the US Department of Defense, was inspired by the name of the famous inventor, dedicated to Lovelace's work. Since 1998, the British Computer Society has awarded a medal in her name.

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In 2008, she started an annual competition called Lovelace to increase and encourage female students in computer science. In addition to this tradition, the BCS Women Lovelace Colloquium Conference, one of the most famous events in its field, held annually for female university students in the UK, is named after Ada Lovelace.

 

The Second Tuesday of October is Ada Lovelace Day every year!

 

It would be unfair not to commemorate a woman who accomplished such important works in the world of science and technology and who made successful inventions despite the fact that women were forbidden to take part in scientific studies. The name of the famous mathematician has been kept alive by technologist Suw Charman-Anderson every year since 2009, the second Tuesday of October has been designated as “Ada Lovelace Day”.

 

While she had the chance to lead a comfortable and ostentatious life as a Lord wife and countess, she devoted herself to science.

We owe a debt of gratitude to this woman, who has made history her successes despite her hardships and laid the foundation of today's computer programming, for shedding light on the path of science with her work and for being a source of inspiration for women in scientific studies.