DID YOU KNOW: THE FIRST COMPUTER PROGRAMMER IN HISTORY WAS A WOMAN.

On this month's episode of "things you didn't know", it gladdens me to inform you that the first computer programmer in history was a woman, Ada Lovelace, who wrote an algorithm for a machine in the 1840s, long before modern computers existed.

Augusta Ada Byron was born in London on December 10, 1815, and was the daughter of the famous poet Lord Byron. However, unlike her father, Ada developed a deep interest in mathematics and science from an early age. Her mother encouraged her studies, believing that logic and mathematics would keep her from inheriting what she considered her father's unpredictable temperament.

Her passion for mathematics eventually brought her into contact with some of the greatest scientific minds of her time. One of which was Charles Babbage, who we all refer to as the "Father of Computer", and who invented the Analytical Engine. In 1842, Ada translated an article about the Analytical Engine written by Italian engineer Luigi Menabrea. However, she did much more than translate it. She added extensive notes of her own, describing a method by which the machine could calculate a sequence of Bernoulli numbers. This detailed set of instructions is widely regarded as the first computer algorithm ever written specifically for a machine.

For this reason, Ada Lovelace is often recognized as the world's first computer programmer.

Although Ada's work received limited recognition during her lifetime, history would eventually acknowledge the significance of her contributions. Today, she is celebrated worldwide as a pioneer of computer science, and in her honor, the programming language "Ada" was developed for the United States Department of Defense, and Ada Lovelace Day is observed annually to celebrate the achievements of women in STEM every second Tuesday in October.

You're welcome!