Communications of the ACM
How Ada Lovelace Used Embroidery to Create the First Computer Program
Lovelace was educated by home tutors, receiving lessons in French and Italian, music, and in suitable handicrafts such as embroidery. Less common for a girl in her time, she also studied math.
Credit: Alfred Edward Chalon
Ada Lovelace, the first computer programmer, was born on December 10, 1815, more than a century before digital electronic computers were developed.
Lovelace has been hailed as a model for girls in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). A dozen biographies for young audiences were published for the 200th anniversary of her birth in 2015. And in 2018, The New York Times added hers as one of the first "missing obituaries" of women at the rise of the #MeToo movement.
But Lovelace — properly Ada King, Countess of Lovelace after her marriage ‚ drew on many different fields for her innovative work, including languages, music, and needlecraft, in addition to mathematical logic. Recognizing that her well-rounded education enabled her to accomplish work that was well ahead of her time, she can be a model for all students, not just girls.
From Inverse
View Full Article
No entries found