The code ever writen was in 1843… by a woman! Ada Lovelace
Even though there are no photographs of Augusta Ada King, Countess of Lovelace, I imagine her with a confident smile, focused on her passion and not on adversity. Only portraits exist, like the one displayed in Room 16, Floor 3 of the UK National Portrait Gallery:
https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait/mw304536/Ada-Lovelace
Ada Lovelace is famous for her analysis of the “Analytical Engine,” now recognized as a steam-powered programmable computer, conceptualized by 19th-century polymath Charles Babbage—a vision that was never built.
Her “Note G” included an algorithm for calculating Bernoulli numbers — a step-by-step method meant to be executed by the Engine. That note is now considered the world’s first computer program.
At first glance, you might think that someone with a name like “Augusta Ada King, Countess of Lovelace” had it easy or had privileged access to education. But the truth is, she had no formal access to school or university. Instead, she studied science and mathematics from an early age with private tutors. Her mind was full of brilliant ideas—like designing a steam-powered flying horse and asking deep questions about the science of rainbows.
She was one of the first “remote students,” learning by correspondence with mathematician Augustus De Morgan—who challenged her but also recognized her as gifted and perspicacious.
Now imagine this: working by candlelight, with ink and paper, to develop what we now recognize as the first code ever written—before electricity, before screens, before binary.
Her “Note G” described how quantities involved in calculating Bernoulli numbers were fetched from the “Store,” processed in the “Mill,” and returned—just like memory and processors in modern computers. Her table clearly represented variables, data, and intermediate results. Beyond the technical detail, she pondered big ideas: could a machine think? Could it compose music?
Sources:
Ada Lovelace and the Analytical Engine – Bodleian Libraries
The Making of a Computer Scientist – Bodleian Libraries
What if I told you the first person to ever write a computer program… was a woman?
Even though there are no photographs of Augusta Ada King, Countess of Lovelace, I imagine her with a confident smile, focused on her passion and not on adversity. Only portraits exist, like the one displayed in Room 16, Floor 3 of the UK National Portrait Gallery:
https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait/mw304536/Ada-Lovelace
Ada Lovelace is famous for her analysis of the “Analytical Engine,” now recognized as a steam-powered programmable computer, conceptualized by 19th-century polymath Charles Babbage—a vision that was never built.
Her “Note G” included an algorithm for calculating Bernoulli numbers — a step-by-step method meant to be executed by the Engine. That note is now considered the world’s first computer program.
At first glance, you might think that someone with a name like “Augusta Ada King, Countess of Lovelace” had it easy or had privileged access to education. But the truth is, she had no formal access to school or university. Instead, she studied science and mathematics from an early age with private tutors. Her mind was full of brilliant ideas—like designing a steam-powered flying horse and asking deep questions about the science of rainbows.
She was one of the first “remote students,” learning by correspondence with mathematician Augustus De Morgan—who challenged her but also recognized her as gifted and perspicacious.
Now imagine this: working by candlelight, with ink and paper, to develop what we now recognize as the first code ever written—before electricity, before screens, before binary.
Her “Note G” described how quantities involved in calculating Bernoulli numbers were fetched from the “Store,” processed in the “Mill,” and returned—just like memory and processors in modern computers. Her table clearly represented variables, data, and intermediate results. Beyond the technical detail, she pondered big ideas: could a machine think? Could it compose music?
Sources:
Ada Lovelace and the Analytical Engine – Bodleian Libraries
The Making of a Computer Scientist – Bodleian Libraries
