Ada Lovelace was an English mathematician and writer, who is best known for her work on Charles Babbage’s proposed mechanical general-purpose computer, the Analytical Engine. She was the first to recognize that the machine had applications beyond pure calculation, and published the first algorithm intended to be run on a machine.

In the early 1840s, Ada Lovelace met Charles Babbage, who was working on his Analytical Engine, a mechanical general-purpose computer. Babbage showed her some of the workings of the machine, and she realized that it could be used to create music and graphics as well as math. She also …