Mother of Computer Programming
Early Life and Education
Born in London, England, on 10 December 1815, Augusta Ada Byron, later known as Ada Lovelace, was the only legitimate child of the famous poet Lord Byron and his wife Annabella Milbanke. Her father left shortly after her birth; thus, she had no lasting relationship with him, and he died when she was eight years old.
Her mother, Annabella, was rather enlightened and even eccentric for harboring a mathematical inclination in her lifetime. She insisted on strict academic training for Ada, particularly in mathematics and science, as it was believed that a logical approach toward study would dissuade Ada from adopting the "dangerous poetic tendencies" of her father. The importance of this acquisition of analytical learning later became a tremendous asset to Ada's line of work in computing.
Charles Babbage and the Birth of the Analytical Engine
At the age of 17 in 1833, Ada met, for the first time, none other than the father of computing himself, the mathematician and inventor Charles Babbage, who at that time was working on a mechanical computing device called the Analytical Engine, designed as an enhanced version of his earlier invention, the Difference Engine. The project left Ada awed and enabled the two to establish an ongoing correspondence on mathematical and engineering themes.
Impressed by her brilliance and analytical acumen, Babbage nicknamed her the "Enchantress of Numbers." The teamwork of these two yielded one of the remarkable wonders in the history of computing.
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