1815 BIRTH OF THE FIRST PROGRAMMER
Ada Lovelace was a visionary whose brilliant mind identified the potential of computers a century before the digital age
In an age where women of a certain class were encouraged to become familiar with the arts, literature and perhaps a language or two, Ada Lovelace, who was born in London on 10 December 1815, had a remarkable start in life. Her mother, Lady Anne Isabella Milbanke, had studied science, philosophy and, most unusually for a woman, mathematics – and she wanted the same for her daughter. She was also determined that Ada would not follow in her father’s footsteps – he was the notoriously debauched poet Lord Byron.