Geek of the Week: Ada Lovelace

Welcome to "Geek of the Week"; here we honor one Muggle geek and one Wizard geek who embody Ravenclaw spirit...
when they succeed, they soar, and when they fail, they fail spectacularly!

Ada Lovelace (1815 - 1852)
"I never am really satisfied that I understand anything; because, understand it well as I may, my comprehension can only be an infinitesimal fraction of all I want to understand about the many connections and relations which occur to me, how the matter in question was first thought of or arrived at, etc., etc."

Did you observe Ada Lovelace Day yesterday?  If not, you missed out on a whole day in celebration of women in science, technology, engineering, and math (apparently we only get one day -- so see you next year!  /sarcasm).

Though she did not attend Hogwarts, Augusta Ada Byron King, Countess of Lovelace, was generally known as the cleverest witch of her age.  She was the only child of Anne Isabella Milbanke and Lord Byron (yes, that one), but she never had a close relationship with either of her parents.  Her early education in mathematics stems from her mother's fear that she would inherit her father's insanity; luckily, this knowledge means she is remembered in her own right.

Her most famous work was with Charles Babbage, the famous mathematician and engineer.  Babbage is credited with inventing the first mechanical computer, but it was Lovelace's theoretical notes on his newest proposed machine, the Analytical Engine, that served to advance the purpose of these machines.

Also, she did all this cool stuff before the age of 36.
Also also, she has a namesake programming language.

Ada Lovelace: world's first computer programmer.  AWESOME!

Find out more about the Finding Ada project here.
Find out more about Ada Lovelace on Wikipedia.