Ada Lovelace, who has been called the world's first computer programmer and the "enchantress of numbers," was honored by Google on Monday with a Google Doodle marking her 197th birthday.
If you've never heard of this mathematical pioneer, you are not alone. Megan Smith, a vice president at Google, and Lynette Webb, senior manager of external relations, write that as of last year, most people at Google hadn't heard of her either.
Augusta Ada King, Countess of Lovelace was born on December 10, 1815 in London--the daughter of Anne Isabelle Millbanke, and George Gordon Noel Byron--better known as Lord Byron, the poet.
Lovelace never had a relationship with her father. He and her mother separated when she was still an infant. Her mother, who was a mathematician herself, insisted her daughter be tutored in math and music in the hopes that Lovelace would not follow in her father's amoral footsteps.