Ada Lovelace, the first programmer

Augusta Ada Byron King, Countess of Lovelace (December 10, 1815 - November 27, 1852), was the daughter of Lord Byron. She was taught mathematics (unusual at that time for women) by Augustus De Morgan.

Ada met and corresponded with Charles Babbage and in 1843 translated (from French) a description of one of Babbage's lectures on Babbage's Analytical Engine by Italian mathematician Luigi Menabrea.  In a note she described an algorithm to be used on the machine to compute Bernoulli numbers.  This is the first computer program (an algorithm designed specifically to run on a computer).

Babbage never built the Analytical Engine, but built parts of a predecessor, the Difference Engine.  London's Science Museum built a Difference Engine using the second version of Babbage's design, completing the computing section in 1991 and the printer in 2002.  An attempt to build the Analytical Engine has been proposed; if it succeeds, Ada's algorithm will be run on it.