the world's first computer program?
Ada Lovelace.
A mathematician and writer who had a very interesting life indeed.
Her full name and title:
Augusta Ada King-Noel, Countess of Lovelace
Born on 10 December 1815, Ada was the only legitimate child of the famous poet, George Byron.
From a very early age, Ada was taught mathematics and science, and it was during her teenage years that her skill in mathematics began to emerge.
For a full account of the life of Ada Lovelace, and how she came to write what is regarded as the world's first algorithm designed to be carried out by a machine, please read the Wikipedia article about her.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ada_Lovelace
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ada_Lovelace_portrait.jpg
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Diagram_for_the_computation_of_Bernoulli_numbers.jpg
Blue plaque to Ada Lovelace in St James's Sq, London
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:AdaLovelaceplaque.JPG
Plus, when I saw the painting of Ada (shown above), I was reminded of the poem written by her father, Byron, (even though he wrote it before the birth of Ada):
She Walks in Beauty
She walks in beauty, like the night
Of cloudless climes and starry skies;
And all that's best of dark and bright
Meet in her aspect and her eyes:
Thus mellow'd to that tender light
Which heaven to gaudy day denies.
One shade the more, one ray the less,
Had half impaired the nameless grace
Which waves in every raven tress,
Or softly lightens o'er her face;
Where thoughts serenely sweet express
How pure, how dear their dwelling-place.
And on that cheek, and o'er that brow,
So soft, so calm, yet eloquent,
The smiles that win, the tints that glow,
But tell of days in goodness spent,
A mind at peace with all below,
A heart whose love is innocent!
But, at the same time, I was also reminded of the poem
about the tiger, by William Blake:
The Tyger
Tyger Tyger, burning bright,
In the forests of the night;
What immortal hand or eye,
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?
In what distant deeps or skies.
Burnt the fire of thine eyes?
On what wings dare he aspire?
What the hand, dare seize the fire?
And what shoulder, & what art,
Could twist the sinews of thy heart?
And when thy heart began to beat,
What dread hand? & what dread feet?
What the hammer? what the chain,
In what furnace was thy brain?
What the anvil? what dread grasp,
Dare its deadly terrors clasp!
When the stars threw down their spears
And water'd heaven with their tears:
Did he smile his work to see?
Did he who made the Lamb make thee?
Tyger Tyger burning bright,
In the forests of the night:
What immortal hand or eye,
Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?
For it seems to me that Ada Lovelace was not only "an old soul" who walked in beauty like the night, but also one with the spirit of a tiger, burning bright.
"Ada Ada, burning bright,
In computers for all time;"
