
Ada Lovelace Wrote the World's First Computer Program in 1843
Ada Lovelace, daughter of poet Lord Byron, collaborated with mathematician Charles Babbage on his Analytical Engine. In 1843 she translated an Italian article on the machine and added her own notes — three times longer than the original — including an algorithm to compute Bernoulli numbers, recognized as the first computer program ever written. She also foresaw that such machines could compose music and manipulate symbols, predicting modern computing by a century.