Sir Adas' series; Ada Lovelace, the first programmer

Programming is for men! With roughly 23 %[1] female workers in the IT sector in Belgium, this assumption seems to suggest itself. And still, the first person ever regarded to be a programmer was a woman – namely Ada Lovelace back in 1843.

Supported by her mother – in her opinion to prevent her from developing her father’s (Lord Byron) perceived insanity – she eagerly studied mathematics and logic. When meeting Charles Babbage and learning about his Analytical Engine she was enthusiastic about the idea of a machine that

“has no pretensions whatever to originate anything. It can do whatever we know how to order it to perform. It can follow analysis; but it has no power of anticipating any analytical relations or truths.”

Not only that she developed a method for calculating the Bernoulli number on the Analytical Engine (considered the first published algorithm ever, but unfortunately never built), it was her driving the work and believing in it. That given, she was not only a talented mathematician but also a visioner and innovation driver. And most importantly, recognized as such by others (amongst them many men) in a time and age when women were still seen as just a pretty adornment of the décor.

On the international day of women in mathematics, we are happy to announce the birth of a new blog series, namely the SirAdas blog. Its mission is to spread and promote achievements of women passionate about science, technology and innovation. In other words, the modern Ada Lovelaces.

Let’s celebrate and cherish women’s intelligence and creativity! Follow and contribute to our blog!