Yesterday, Wednesday 16th October, was Ada Lovelace Day.
Ada was born in 1815, the daughter of the famous poet, Lord Byron. She was a mathematician in an age where women were not encouraged to follow any type of academic career. She is mainly known for her work on Charles Babbage’s early mechanical general purpose computer, and is widely credited with writing the world’s first computer program. Ada was also a visionary, in that she saw future applications of ‘computers’ to extend beyond mathematical calculations. Ada died in 1852 at the early age of 37.
Ada Lovelace Day aims to raise the profile of women in science, technology, mathematics and engineering and encourage people around the world to discuss women whose work they admire.