Ada Lovelace was one of the most picturesque characters in computer history. She was the daughter of the poet Lord Byron, and her mother, who did not want her to become a poet like her father, brought her up to be a mathematician and scientist.
She wrote a scientific paper in 1843 that anticipated the development of computer software, artificial intelligence, and computer music. She wrote the world’s first computer programmes for the Analytical Engine, a general-purpose machine that Charles Babbage had invented. The calculations were never carried out, as the machine was never built. She also wrote the very first description of a computer, and of software.
Understanding that computers could do a lot more than just crunch numbers, Ada suggested that the analytical engine ‘might compose elaborate and scientific pieces of music’. Sadly, she never had the chance to fully explore the possibilities of either Babbage’s inventions or her own understanding of computing, for she died, aged only 36, on 27th November 1852, of cancer.
