Ada Lovelace

Ada Lovelace

Mathematician

Ada Lovelace, an English mathematician and daughter of the poet Lord Byron, wrote the first algorithm for a machine in the 1800s and is considered the first computer programmer. Lovelace worked with Charles Babbage, the “father of the computer.” Fascinated by his computing machines, she published an article detailing how codes could be created for the machines, as well as the computer programming concept known as “looping,” a code that repeats a series of instructions. Her articles were largely unknown until the 1950s. She has since won many posthumous honors, and the second Tuesday of October is celebrated as “Ada Lovelace Day.”

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