One name that frequently appears in a discussion of women in mathematics is Ada Byron Lovelace. Her work with Charles Babbage resulted in her crowning as the first computer programmer.
Born in 1815, her early life was shadowed by her father's scandalous love affair with his half sister. He died shortly after and she was raised primarily by her mother, Annabella Milbanke. She was a sickly child and this weakness would plague her throughout her life.
Her first interest was geography, but by the time she was 18 she took to mathematics and actively sought mathematicians for correspondence. She was fond of Mary Fairfax Sommerville, and they would attend public lectures together. She was not allowed to attend university nor join the scientific societies on account of her gender, but this did little to discourage her mathematical enthusiasm which her mother had encouraged in her youth. Her interests took root after meeting Charles Babbage at a party, and learning of his Difference Engine.
The Difference Engine was a machine that performed mathematical computations such as number storage and simple arithmetic. Ada was so intrigued by this loom-based construction that she translated works from French that discussed the machine. The Difference Engine was only a stepping stone to the greater Analytical Engine, which was never actually built due to lack of adequate funding. Charles Babbage had great difficulty in trying to explain exactly what it was, how it was different from the Difference Engine, and its significance. Ada made a great contribution by properly explaining this machine. She published Observations on Mr. Babbage's Analytical Engine in 1843. This paper explained that the machine used Operation Cards to perform arithmetic on numerical data and respond to symbols representing data. She emphasized the ability to program the machine. It is for this emphasis and development that she is labelled the inventor of programming.
Sadly, soon after these developments her sickness began to consume her. In addition, a compulsion for horse betting led to massive debts and the sale of many of her family's jewels. She died of cancer at the young age of 36 in 1852.
Ada's accomplishments have been recognized by both her contemporaries, such as Michael Faraday and Charles Wheatstone, and modern computer scientists. In fact, the United States military developed a computer language that is named in her honor. ADA is an object-oriented programming language that is popular in Europe for communication purposes.
Though she was denied much of the formal training and foundation that a university might offer, her enthusiasm, in combination with the support of those closest to her, led her to great achievement. Mathematics was a very natural part of her life. The results of her insight led to an essential aspect to computing technologies.
Marni Mishna
mjmishna@undergrad.math.uwaterloo.ca
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