Most CS students should be able to tell you about Ada Lovelace. She is heralded as the first computer programmer (yes, the first programmer was a woman!) for her work with Charles Babbage and his Analytical Engine.

Lovelace was born in 1815 to Lord Byron (the poet) and Anne Isabella Milbanke. She was fortunate to receive an exceptional education which was not very normal for women at the time, and she was encouraged to study math and science! Her studies eventually put her in contact with Charles Babbage. He was working on what we might consider the first computer, and Lovelace developed the algorithms (not sure what an algorithm is? check this out!) for it which is why she is considered the first computer programmer.

For more on Lovelace see: http://www.biography.com/people/ada-lovelace-20825323#synopsis

For even more see: http://findingada.com/shop/a-passion-for-science-stories-of-discovery-and-invention/ada-lovelace-victorian-computing-visionary/

 

And this wonderful BBC documentary!

Photo Credit: By Original watercolor portrait (Ada lovelace.jpg): Alfred Edward ChalonWoodcut-style graphic (Ada Lovelace.tif): Colin Adams, for the Ada InitiativeSVG conversion (Ada Lovelace.svg): Fred the OysterColorization: Kaldari – Own work, CC0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=16996674