Heroine of the Day - Ada Lovelace

Ada Augusta Lovelace

My Personal Heroine

(1815-1852) ~ Mathematician. Computer Programmer.
The daughter of the poet Lord Byron, Lovelace collaborated with Charles Babbage on the design of the Analytical Engine, a mechancial device for solving math problems. While the machine was not built in her lifetime, her concepts for programming the machine, based on the cards used for weaving complex brocade fabrics, are in use in digital computers today. The ADA programming language is named for her, developed by the Department of Defense.

Comments: 10

Brenda (square peg in a round hole) H. Sep 12, 2007, 7:55am UTC

Thats very interesting.

reply to this comment

Cori Anders Sep 12, 2007, 7:57am UTC

She is one of my favorite women in history!

reply to this comment

Frightening Icon, Official Varmint of The State of Franklin Sep 12, 2007, 8:15am UTC

And people claim that women aren't good at math...

reply to this comment

Charlotte Babb Maven-Fairy Godmother Sep 12, 2007, 2:12pm UTC

Lots of women are good at math, especialy in the computer industry, like my other personal heroine, Grace Murray Hopper who invented the compiler and who got an advanced degree in Math from Harvard in the 30s.

reply to this comment

Dorine H. Sep 12, 2007, 2:31pm UTC

Wow! A century ahead of her time! Would you please do more research and write more about herlife for us? Thanks.

reply to this comment

Gina Robinson Sep 12, 2007, 5:04pm UTC

Thanks for sharing! Gotta love a woman who has a programming language named for her.

reply to this comment

busy reader g. Sep 12, 2007, 5:10pm UTC

cool thanks for sharing

reply to this comment

Mary Ann R. Sep 12, 2007, 6:05pm UTC

Ada Lovelace appears as a character in the PBS children's series "Cyberchase".

reply to this comment

Donna Hammett-Tooker Sep 12, 2007, 8:39pm UTC

Women can do anything they want to do but most want to get a man, an Mrs. degree or pregnant (to have someone to love only them) and school falls by the wayside. Thank _______ (fill in your choice of deity) there are those who cannot and will not fit any mold.

reply to this comment

Charlotte Babb Maven-Fairy Godmother Sep 13, 2007, 11:09pm UTC

Try wikipedia or just google her....she's well known. Many more women were educated in the 1700s and 1800s than we have been led to believe. They were not the useless gentry that Jane Austen writes about, not all of them--not that I don't love Jane Austen's very sharp pen!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ada_Lovelace

http://www.sdsc.edu/ScienceWomen/lovelace.html

http://www-history.mcs.st-and.ac.uk/PictDisplay/Lovelace.html (pictures)

reply to this comment

Heroine of the Day - Ada Lovelace

Comments: 10

Join the Conversation