Editing Ada Lovelace (section)

{{Short description|English mathematician (1815–1852)}}
{{For|the computer microarchitecture|Ada Lovelace (microarchitecture)}}
{{Use British English|date=November 2019}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2024}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name              = The Countess of Lovelace
| honorific_prefix  = [[The Right Honourable]]
| image             = Ada Lovelace daguerreotype by Antoine Claudet 1843 - cropped.png
| caption           = Daguerreotype of Lovelace by Antoine Claudet ({{circa|1843}})<ref>{{cite web | url=https://blogs.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/adalovelace/2015/10/14/only-known-photographs-of-ada-lovelace-in-bodleian-display/ | title=Only known photographs of Ada Lovelace in Bodleian Display | date=14 October 2015 }}</ref>
| birth_name        = Hon. Augusta Ada Byron
| birth_date        = {{birth date|df=y|1815|12|10}}
| birth_place       = London, England
| death_date        = {{death date and age|df=y|1852|11|27|1815|12|10}}
| death_place       = [[Marylebone]], London, England
| nationality       = British
| resting place     = [[Church of St. Mary Magdalene, Hucknall]], Nottingham, England
| spouse            = {{marriage|[[William King-Noel, 1st Earl of Lovelace]]|1835}}
| children          = {{plainlist|
* [[Byron King-Noel, Viscount Ockham]]
* [[Anne Blunt, 15th Baroness Wentworth]]
* [[Ralph King-Milbanke, 2nd Earl of Lovelace]]}}
| parents           = {{Plainlist |
* [[Lord Byron|George Byron, 6th Baron Byron]] (father)
* [[Lady Byron|Anne Isabella Milbanke]] (mother)
}}
| known_for         = [[Mathematics]], [[computing]]
| signature         = Augusta Ava Lovelace autograph.svg
| alt               = Augusta Ada King, Countess of Lovelace, daguerrotype portrait circa 1843
}}

'''Augusta Ada King, Countess of Lovelace''' (''[[née]]'' '''Byron'''; 10 December 1815 – 27 November 1852), also known as '''Ada Lovelace''', was an English [[mathematician]] and [[writer]] chiefly known for her work on [[Charles Babbage]]'s proposed mechanical general-purpose [[computer]], the [[Analytical Engine]]. She was the first to recognise that the machine had applications beyond pure calculation.

Lovelace was the only legitimate child of poet [[Lord Byron]] and reformer [[Anne Isabella Milbanke]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.biography.com/people/ada-lovelace-20825323|title=Ada Lovelace Biography|website=biography.com|date=6 May 2021 }}</ref> All her half-siblings, [[Lord Byron#Children|Lord Byron's other children]], were born out of wedlock to other women.<ref name= ABCL/> Lord Byron separated from his wife a month after Ada was born and left [[England]] forever. He died in [[Greece]] when she was eight. Lady Byron was anxious about her daughter's upbringing and promoted Lovelace's interest in mathematics and logic in an effort to prevent her from developing her father's perceived [[insanity]]. Despite this, Lovelace remained interested in her father, naming her two sons [[Byron King-Noel, Viscount Ockham|Byron]] and [[Ralph King-Milbanke, 2nd Earl of Lovelace|Gordon]]. Upon her death, she was buried next to her father at her request. Although often ill in her childhood, Lovelace pursued her studies assiduously. She married [[William King-Noel, 1st Earl of Lovelace|William King]] in 1835. King was made [[Earl of Lovelace]] in 1838, Ada thereby becoming Countess of Lovelace.

Lovelace's educational and social exploits brought her into contact with scientists such as [[Andrew Crosse]], Charles Babbage, [[Sir David Brewster]], [[Charles Wheatstone]] and [[Michael Faraday]], and the author [[Charles Dickens]], contacts which she used to further her education. Lovelace described her approach as "poetical science"{{Sfn|Toole|1998|pp=234–235}} and herself as an "Analyst (& Metaphysician)".{{Sfn|Toole|1998|pp=156–157}}

When she was eighteen, Lovelace's mathematical talents led her to a long working relationship and friendship with fellow British mathematician Charles Babbage. She was in particular interested in Babbage's work on the [[Analytical Engine]]. Lovelace first met him on 5 June 1833, when she and [[Lady Byron|her mother]] attended one of [[Charles Babbage's Saturday night soirées]]<ref>{{Cite book |last=Toole |first=Betty Alexandra |title=Ada, the Enchantress of Numbers:Poetical Science |date=2010 |publisher=Critical Connection |edition=Kindle |pages=Location 641}}</ref> with their mutual friend, and Lovelace's private tutor, [[Mary Somerville]].

Though Babbage's Analytical Engine was never constructed and exercised no influence on the later invention of electronic computers, it has been recognised in retrospect as a [[Turing completeness|Turing-complete]] general-purpose computer which anticipated the essential features of a modern electronic computer; Babbage is therefore known as the "father of computers," and Lovelace is credited with several computing "firsts" for her collaboration with him.

Between 1842 and 1843, Lovelace translated [[wikisource:Scientific Memoirs/3/Sketch of the Analytical Engine invented by Charles Babbage, Esq.|an article]] by the military engineer [[Luigi Menabrea]] (later [[Prime Minister of Italy]]) about the Analytical Engine, supplementing it with [[wikisource:Scientific Memoirs/3/Sketch of the Analytical Engine invented by Charles Babbage, Esq./Notes by the Translator|seven long explanatory notes]].<!--this is an inappropriate way of linking this material -- maybe a marginal box or something, but that can't be in the lead--> These notes described a method of using the machine to calculate [[Bernoulli number]]s which is often called the first published computer program.

She also developed a vision of the capability of computers to go beyond mere calculating or number-crunching, while many others, including Babbage himself, focused only on those capabilities.{{Sfn|Fuegi|Francis|2003|pp=19, 25}} Lovelace was the first to point out the possibility of encoding information besides mere arithmetical figures, such as music, and manipulating it with such a machine. Her mindset of "poetical science" led her to ask questions about the Analytical Engine (as shown in her notes), examining how individuals and society relate to technology as a collaborative tool.<ref name="ABCL">{{Citation|last=Toole|first=Betty Alexandra|title=Poetical Science|journal=The Byron Journal|volume=15|year=1987|pages=55–65|doi=10.3828/bj.1987.6}}.</ref>

The programming language [[Ada (programming language)|Ada]] is named after her.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Timeline of the Ada Programming Language |url=https://www.adacore.com/about-ada/timeline-of-ada |access-date=2025-04-29 |website=AdaCore |language=en}}</ref>