Ritam Banati
Someone has aptly said, ‘Technology can provide a link that further unites our state, a link that bridges our vast prairies and sandhills’
In the commotion of our daily lives, we pay only scant regard to the techies, who have built and are still busy networking the modern world. It is because of them that our lives are becoming so much more comfortable. All companies, whether in the corporate field or otherwise, are running on the mechanics provided by technology. One of the most important among them is the machine called computer – the device which draws its essence from software, the root of which but one small computer program.
Very few among us must be aware that the first computer program originated in the mind of a woman!
March 24 was celebrated as Ada Lovelace Day to commemorate the contribution of women in the field of science and technology. Suw Charman-Anderson, who is a social media consultant, was the one who created the Ada Lovelace Day last year. Marking the annual event this year, she told the BBC, "For years I`ve worked in technology, and every time you see a list of the top people in tech, it`s dominated by men."
In the event, Ada Lovelace was voted as the most popular and was hailed as a “technology heroine”. She defeated the likes of the famous scientist-Marie Curie.
What was very inspiring about this woman, who was born on December 10, 1815, was her determination to excel despite all odds, including paralysis during childhood which left her bed-ridden for a year. She was able to walk again a couple of years later, but with crutches. Due to her mother’s obsession and her own grit, Lovelace underwent private schooling in maths and science during this time-testing period.
At the young age of 17 years, Ada’s outstanding mathematical abilities started emerging, which were destined to dominate her entire lifespan.
The daughter of poet Lord Byron rose to become the colleague of the famous mathematician Charles Babbage. A considerable amount of information about the “analytical engine”, which was Babbage’s brainchild and which laid the basis of modern computing, flows from her notes on the subject. The brainy beauty had suggested to Babbage how the engine might calculate Bernoulli numbers. And it was this plan, which came to be regarded as the world’s first "computer program."
The computer language Ada, which was created on behalf of the United States Department of Defense, is named after her.
Babbage’s words pay a befitting tribute to this historical innovator of modern technology,
‘Forget this world and all its troubles and, if possible, its multitudinous Charlatans — every thing in short but the Enchantress of Numbers.’
The most remarkable part of her accomplishments was that she was never recognized for her work in her lifetime. It was only a century later that the world acknowledged her contribution to science & technology.
As the first programmer of the world, Ada Lovelace was disregarded in a male-dominated profession. However, it only strengthened her perseverance to excel in the field of her interest.
One of the few women who made a mark in this field, this technology heroine was truly the ‘Enchantress of Numbers.’ In a memo praising her, Babbage wrote, "…I am very reluctant to return your admirable & philosophic `Note A.` Pray do not alter it ... The more I read your notes the more surprised I am at them and regret not having earlier explored so rich a vein of the noblest metal."
The mirror of technological intelligence, Ada Lovelace breathed her last on 27th November, 1852, but not before the woman gifted to the subject of her calling, that useful non-tangible resource, which was to change the course of human life in times to come.
In almost every computation a great variety of arrangements for the succession of the processes is possible, and various considerations must influence the selections amongst them for the purposes of a calculating engine. One essential object is to choose that arrangement which shall tend to reduce to a minimum the time necessary for completing the calculation.
Ada Lovelace
