1 00:00:01,920 --> 00:00:07,000 Speaker 1: Welcome to Brainstuff, a production of iHeart Radio. Hey brain Stuff, 2 00:00:07,080 --> 00:00:11,760 Speaker 1: Lauren Bogabam Here. If you're surprised that the first computer 3 00:00:11,800 --> 00:00:15,040 Speaker 1: programmer in the world was a woman, just wait. Her 4 00:00:15,080 --> 00:00:19,200 Speaker 1: story gets even more interesting. Ada Lovelace was also the 5 00:00:19,280 --> 00:00:22,560 Speaker 1: daughter a famous poet, Lord Byron, and accomplished her work 6 00:00:22,640 --> 00:00:25,280 Speaker 1: during a time when women were rarely allowed to study 7 00:00:25,360 --> 00:00:30,639 Speaker 1: mathematics and science. Lovelace was born Augusta Ada Byron in 8 00:00:30,720 --> 00:00:33,720 Speaker 1: eighteen fifteen, the daughter of Lord Byron and the wealthy 9 00:00:33,800 --> 00:00:37,199 Speaker 1: Isabella Millbank. The two had a stormy marriage, and her 10 00:00:37,240 --> 00:00:40,440 Speaker 1: father left the family almost immediately after her birth, never 11 00:00:40,479 --> 00:00:44,080 Speaker 1: to see her again. Millbank was furious with her ex 12 00:00:44,320 --> 00:00:47,440 Speaker 1: and insisted her daughter's steer clear of poetry, which she 13 00:00:47,600 --> 00:00:52,800 Speaker 1: blamed for Byron's wanton and unstable behavior. Instead, Lovelace was 14 00:00:52,880 --> 00:00:56,480 Speaker 1: highly encouraged to study science and mathematics, the latter being 15 00:00:56,520 --> 00:01:00,920 Speaker 1: Millbank's own area of expertise. This was usual for wealthy 16 00:01:00,920 --> 00:01:03,880 Speaker 1: young ladies at the time, who typically only pursued artistic 17 00:01:03,960 --> 00:01:08,240 Speaker 1: subjects such as music and painting. Unfortunately for Lovelace, she 18 00:01:08,360 --> 00:01:10,840 Speaker 1: had an aptitude for math. When she was in her 19 00:01:10,920 --> 00:01:17,000 Speaker 1: late teens, she met Charles Babbage, an accomplished mathematician and inventor. Babbage, 20 00:01:17,080 --> 00:01:20,000 Speaker 1: known today is the father of the computer, had invented 21 00:01:20,080 --> 00:01:24,640 Speaker 1: the difference engine, a machine that performed simple mathematical calculations. 22 00:01:25,760 --> 00:01:28,679 Speaker 1: Now he was working on an analytical engine that would 23 00:01:28,680 --> 00:01:32,600 Speaker 1: be able to perform more complex computations. He showed Lovelace 24 00:01:32,680 --> 00:01:35,920 Speaker 1: a small working section during their initial meeting, and she 25 00:01:36,040 --> 00:01:41,759 Speaker 1: was fascinated. Soon Lovelace became Babbage's protege. Babbage would eventually 26 00:01:41,800 --> 00:01:45,720 Speaker 1: give her the nickname the Enchantress of Numbers. But in 27 00:01:45,800 --> 00:01:48,880 Speaker 1: eighteen thirty five, shortly after the two began working together, 28 00:01:49,240 --> 00:01:52,680 Speaker 1: Lovelace met and married a baron named William King, and 29 00:01:52,760 --> 00:01:56,080 Speaker 1: the couple had three children in quick succession, causing Lovelace 30 00:01:56,120 --> 00:01:59,560 Speaker 1: to temporarily halt her studies, and during this time her 31 00:01:59,640 --> 00:02:02,480 Speaker 1: husband became the Earl of Lovelace and she the Countess, 32 00:02:02,640 --> 00:02:06,360 Speaker 1: hence her surname. Not too long after their third child 33 00:02:06,440 --> 00:02:10,120 Speaker 1: was born, Lovelace returned to work with Babbage. One of 34 00:02:10,120 --> 00:02:12,720 Speaker 1: the first things she did was translate an article on 35 00:02:12,800 --> 00:02:16,800 Speaker 1: his analytical engine from French into English. The translation was 36 00:02:16,840 --> 00:02:20,000 Speaker 1: published in an English science journal in eighteen forty three, 37 00:02:20,400 --> 00:02:23,880 Speaker 1: but the work also included Lovelace's own extensive thoughts and 38 00:02:24,000 --> 00:02:27,079 Speaker 1: ideas on the machine, a material that was three times 39 00:02:27,080 --> 00:02:31,520 Speaker 1: longer than the original article. Because her notes discussed how 40 00:02:31,520 --> 00:02:35,639 Speaker 1: the machine could be programmed to calculate Bernoulli numbers, considered 41 00:02:35,639 --> 00:02:39,040 Speaker 1: by some to be the first algorithm carried out by machine, a, 42 00:02:39,080 --> 00:02:43,359 Speaker 1: Lovelace is viewed as the world's first programmer. More impressively, 43 00:02:43,520 --> 00:02:47,320 Speaker 1: her notes contained visionary references to the concept that similar 44 00:02:47,360 --> 00:02:51,080 Speaker 1: machines might also be used to create music, text, pictures, 45 00:02:51,080 --> 00:02:55,280 Speaker 1: and sounds, essentially today's modern computer, while Babbage thought they 46 00:02:55,280 --> 00:03:00,640 Speaker 1: could only perform numerical calculations. Sadly, Lovelace out of cancer 47 00:03:00,800 --> 00:03:03,600 Speaker 1: at the age of thirty six. Charles Babbage was the 48 00:03:03,639 --> 00:03:07,359 Speaker 1: executor of Lovelace's will. She requested to be interred next 49 00:03:07,360 --> 00:03:09,880 Speaker 1: to her father, Lord Byron, who also died at age 50 00:03:09,919 --> 00:03:12,440 Speaker 1: thirty six, even though he hadn't seen her since she 51 00:03:12,520 --> 00:03:15,720 Speaker 1: was an infant. Her computing ideas were so advanced that 52 00:03:15,760 --> 00:03:19,239 Speaker 1: they weren't recognized until the nineteen forties. Nearly a century later, 53 00:03:20,200 --> 00:03:22,680 Speaker 1: in nineteen seventy nine, the U. S. Department of Defense 54 00:03:22,760 --> 00:03:26,040 Speaker 1: named its new computer programming language ADA in her honor. 55 00:03:31,320 --> 00:03:33,920 Speaker 1: Today's episode was written by Melanie rad Z Pie McManus 56 00:03:33,919 --> 00:03:36,480 Speaker 1: and produced by Tyler Clang. For more on this months 57 00:03:36,480 --> 00:03:39,559 Speaker 1: of other math magical topics, visit how stuff works dot com. 58 00:03:39,600 --> 00:03:41,960 Speaker 1: Brain Stuff is a production of iHeart Radio. Or more 59 00:03:42,000 --> 00:03:45,480 Speaker 1: podcasts my heart Radio visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, 60 00:03:45,560 --> 00:03:47,240 Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.