Ada Lovelace
(born 1815, Middlesex, England; died 1852, London, England)

Ada Lovelace (born 1815, Middlesex, England; died 1852, London) The world's first computer programmer was the only child of the poet Lord Byron. Tutored in maths from an early age by her mother, she went on to become an associate of the computer engineer Charles Babbage. In 1842 she wrote a commentary on his prototype of a digital computer -- the 'Analytical Engine' -- which has since been hailed as the origin of all software design.