Ada Lovelace Day

The Science Museum has some of the most important artefacts and archives from Ada Lovelace and Charles Babbage's work – so we thought we'd tell you a bit more about their collaboration on this important day.

Ada Lovelace (1815 – 1852) is often referred to as the world's first computer programmer. The daughter of the famous poet Lord Byron, and the admired intellect, Annabella Milbanke, Ada Lovelace represented the meeting of two alternative worlds: the romanticism and art of her father versus the rationality and science of her mother. In her attempt to draw together these polar opposites and create a 'poetical science' during the Victorian age, Ada collaborated with the renowned mathematician and inventor, Charles Babbage.  Find out more about Ada Lovelace and her work on the Analytical Engine.

If you're in London on Tuesday 24 March 2009, why not come down to the Science Museum and meet Ada the number-crunching queen.  Performances are at 11:45 - 12:05, 12:30 - 12:50 and 13:30 - 13:50 in the Computing gallery. 

The Computing gallery also features Babbage's Analytical Engine, (1834-1871) and the Difference Engine built by the Science Museum according to Babbage's original specifications.

You can find out more Ada Lovelace Day, an international day of blogging to draw attention to women excelling in technology, at findingada.com.