Yes these days there may be a lack of women in science and technology fields, but did you know that the first ever computer programmer was actually a woman?
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Born in 1815, Lovelace pioneered the 19th-century equivalent of STEM in her short 27 years.
As Lord Byron’s only legitimate daughter, Augusta “Ada”, Countess of Lovelace, grew up under the watchful eyes of her mother, Anne Isabella Noel, who steered her towards maths and logic in an effort to avoid developing the poetry-fuelled “insanity” of her infamous father.
In an attempt to counter the possibility of Lovelace inheriting Byron’s wild traits, Milbanke ensured her daughter was grounded in scientific, rather than creative, pursuits, enrolling the child in a math-heavy curriculum, Mashable reports.
The exhibition will also display prototype Difference Engine No. 1 and subsequent Analytical Engine made by Charles Babbage.
The exhibition contains a manuscript of her workings with Victorian mathematician Charles Babbage.
Isis Anchalee, a software engineer in South Fransisco who taught herself how to code at the age of 8 was shocked when a photo of her holding up a sign saying “I help build enterprise software #iamanengineer” went viral on social media with people questioning if she was actually an engineer due to her appearance. Ever. Lovelace’s friend Charles Babbage designed a concept for a machine he called the “Analytical Engine” – essentially a mechanical computer that would have relied on punch cards to run programs.
The article written by Lovelace was over three times the length of the original article. The algorithm enabled a machine to calculate Bernoulli numbers.
The Science Museum’s exhibition is open from 10am to 6pm daily (10pm Fridays) until 31 March.
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In a recent BBC Four documentary, UCL mathematics lecturer Dr Hannah Fry said Ada Lovelace had had a “leap of imagination” when thinking about what the Analytical Engine could do.
