Ada Lovelace
Birth:
December 10, 1815
Death:
November 27, 1852
Major Academic Achievements:
Ada had an early life that was very uncommon for her time. She was taught math and science by tutors and showed promise in both subjects. She then became friends with Charles Babbage, known as the father of the computer, and he mentored her while creating the analytical engine.
Contribution to Computer Science:
Seeing the analytical engine would lead her to having a published article, in 1843, based off an old article that she had translated. In this article, she described coding using the analytical engine and wrote about looping, repeating a series of instructions. She said that the engine could use symbols to represent letters, numbers, and other things. Because of these theories and descriptions, she is known to be the first computer programmer.
Sources:
https://www.computerhistory.org/babbage/adalovelace/
https://www.biography.com/scholar/ada-lovelace
https://www.britannica.com/story/ada-lovelace-the-first-computer-programmer#:~:text=Lovelace%20realized%20that%20the%20Analytical,as%20the%20first%20computer%20program