The Women Who Shaped Today's Science: Ada Lovelace

March 29, 2023

Ashlyn Tsang, Maya Puterman, Noa Essner

10th Grade

Ada Lovelace was born in London on December 10, 1815. Her father left Ada and her mother at a young age. From that point on, Lovelace was forced by her mother to study science and mathematics. She was taught by several tutors as well as the first professor of the University of London, Augustus De Morgan. In the 1820s, a mathematician and mechanical engineer, Charles Babbage created the Analytic Engine and the Difference Engine. These inventions were able to do simple mathematical functions. The Difference Engine was only able to carry out the addition function, and the Analytic Engine was able to implement the addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division functions. The Analytic Engine is now known as one of the first computers to exist. 

Soon after, Babbage and Lovelace were introduced to each other by Mary Somerville, because of Lovelace’s mathematical talent. As a result, Lovelace grew an interest in Analytic machines. After observing the machines, Lovelace realized that they had the potential to do much more than just bare calculations. She had interpreted and translated an article written by Luigi Federico Menabrea, an Italian mathematician and engineer, in 1843 on the Analytic machine. Lovelace’s explanation and observations of the Analytical Engine were outstanding, as she suggested how the machine was able to evaluate Bernoulli numbers. Her annotations also included algebraic patterns or algorithms to be performed by the machine; this was known to be the first computer program.  

While Babbage built the Analytical machine, Lovelace brought out the idea of the machines doing more than just performing calculations. Her demeanor of “poetical science” prompted her to raise questions about the Analytical Engine and observe how civilization can connect with technology. As she proved that simple calculations programmed within the machine could bring out complicated functions, she also discovered a method called “looping” which is used for modern computer programs today. Looping helps with simplifying complex functions or calculations and is used as a foundational element for programming. Ada Lovelace died in 1852. The early computing language was named Ada, after Ada Lovelace.