In 1843, a 27-year-old woman wrote first-ever computer program. Mentored by Charles Babbage, her work still inspires modern technology nearly 200 years later

Long before laptops, smartphones, or even electronic computers existed, a young British mathematician imagined what a programmable machine could do. Her name was Ada Lovelace, and in 1843 she published instructions for Charles Babbage's projected Analytical Engine, which are usually regarded as the first computer program. Ada Lovelace's achievement is notable for its timing. She envisioned the possibilities of general-purpose computing almost a century before computers were commonplace and decades before semiconductors altered the profession.

Who was Ada Lovelace?

Lovelace was born Augusta Ada Byron on December 10, 1815, in London, the daughter of the famed poet Lord Byron and Anne Isabella Milbanke. Lovelace's parents separated shortly after her birth, and she was raised by her mother. Mathematics and physics formed key parts of her education at a period when women were not expected to study these topics seriously. As a teenager, Lovelace became involved in British scientific and intellectual circles. According to the Science Museum, she first met mathematician and inventor Charles Babbage when she was quite young. Ada was taken aback by Charles' mechanical calculators and their capabilities.

A programme that was far ahead of its time

Babbage began working on the Difference Engine, a mechanical engine designed to produce mathematical tables mechanically. He eventually attempted much more complex concepts, such as the Analytical Engine. According to the Computer History Museum, Babbage's design included ideas seen in current computers and marked a significant step toward general-purpose programmable computation. The entire Analytical Engine, however, was never built. However, this did not deter Lovelace from considering what it could do.

How Lovelace write the first published program?

In 1843, Lovelace translated an article on the Analytical Engine authored by Italian engineer Luigi Menabrea. She then included her own extended remarks, which were roughly three times as long as the original essay. Among these was a thorough approach for the Analytical Engine to calculate Bernoulli numbers. The Bodleian Libraries in Oxford described it as the first documented computer program, while the Science Museum referred to Lovelace's work as the first published algorithm for a machine. The Computer History Museum adds additional context: Babbage had worked on similar techniques himself, but Lovelace's notebooks contained the first written descriptions of what we now call programs.

Lovelace saw computers as more than calculators

Perhaps Lovelace's most forward-thinking concept extended beyond the program itself. She realised that if information like musical notes could be represented numerically, a programmable system could handle considerably more than just numbers. The Science Museum said that Lovelace saw the Analytical Engine working with symbols and music. In other words, she viewed computers as general-purpose information machines rather than just quicker calculators. That concept seems valid now, as the same machines manage numbers, photos, music, video, and language.

When electronic computers arrived nearly 100 years later

The hardware revolution occurred much later. Between 1939 and 1942, Iowa State College physicist and mathematician John Vincent Atanasoff and graduate student Clifford Berry collaborated on the Atanasoff-Berry Computer. Iowa State touts the ABC as the world's first electronic digital computer, which was tested successfully in 1942. It was a considerably different computer than Babbage's unrealised general-purpose design, but it was a watershed moment in electronic computing.

Ada Lovelace's legacy reached the digital age

Lovelace died in 1852 at the age of 36, before Babbage's Analytical Engine could be built. Nonetheless, her writings endured. Lovelace's significance stems not only from its association with an early algorithm, but also from its recognition of a basic aspect of computing: machines could follow sequences of instructions and potentially manipulate numerous types of information. Nearly two centuries later, that concept remains at the heart of practically every computer we use.