Skip to main content

On Ada Lovelace's 197th birthday Google doodles the evolution of computers


New Delhi: From the first program that Ada Lovelace created for the Analytical Engine to present day laptops and tablet PCs, Google has doodled the evolution of computers on the occasion of the world's first computer programmer's 197th birth anniversary.
The doodle shows Ada Lovelace writing the pioneering computer program with a quill pen seated on a desk and the paper scroll she is writing her algorithm on twirls in the shape of the letters of the Google logo.
Ada King, the countess of Lovelace, was born on December 10, 1815 in Piccadilly Terrace, Middlesex, England and was the daughter of the famous poet Lord Byron, but as her parents separated soon after her birth and she did not get to know her father well.
Her original name was Augusta Ada Byron and on her marriage to William King she became Ada King and later her husband became an earl, she became the countess of Lovelace.
While she was educated at home by tutors, her mathematical skills were further honed by Augustus De Morgan, the first professor of mathematics at the University of London, who helped her in advanced studies.
Her association with Charles Babbage, father of the computer, began when she translated an article by Italian mathematician and engineer Luigi Federico on Babbage's proposed Analytical Engine. She not only translated the work but added her notes that were more elaborate and longer than the work she was translating.
Ada Lovelace died at the young age of 36 on November 27, 1852 of uterine cancer.
Charles Babbage called her the 'Enchantress of Numbers'. Though there has been some disagreements over the extent of Ada Lovelace's contribution to early computing, the computer language Ada is named after her and a medal is awarded in her name by the British Computer Society.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

In pics: The Bachchan Family Tree

The Bachchans:  Bachchans are busy celebrating the arrival of Aishwarya and Abhishek's daughter. Let's meet the Bachchan clan Harivansh Rai Bachchan, Amitabh Bachchan's father was a famous Hindi poet. He is most popular for his book 'Madhushala'. He passed away in 2003. Harivansh Rai Bachchan got married to Shyama in 1926. Shyama died after ten years of marriage. Harivansh married Teji Bachchan (in the picture) in 1941. They had two sons, Amitabh and Ajitab. Born in 1969, Amitabh Bachchan is the most popular Bollywood celebrity today. Ajitabh Bachchan (second from left) is Amitabh's younger brother Amitabh Bachchan is married to actress Jaya Bachchan. They have two children, Abhishek Bachchan and Shweta Nanda. Jaya was born in a Hindu Bengali family to Taroon Kumar Bhaduri and Indira Bhaduri. Her father was a writer, journalist and stage artist. Abhishek's elder sister Shweta Bachchan Nanda is married to industrialist Nikhil Nanda. Nikhil and Shweta have t...

George Boole’s 200th Birthday

  Here’s an easy, yes-or-no question: Is the universe complex? YES, of course, you could say; it would be crazy to think otherwise! But on the other hand, British mathematician   George Boole   taught us that NO, things can be seen as relatively simple; any values can be pared down to yes or no, true or false, or 0 or 1 (which, here at Google, is our personal favorite). In 1849, Boole was appointed as the first Professor of Mathematics at   University College Cork , where he pioneered developments in logic and mathematics. His beautiful binary “Boolean” system was detailed in   An Investigation of the Laws of Thought   in 1854, which inevitably enabled revolutionary thinking in not just logic and math, but also engineering and computer science. As one of the most important scientists to have ever worked in Ireland, Boole effectively laid the foundations of the entire Information Age while working from UCC. So it’s fair to say that without Geo...

Farouque Shaikh’s 70th Birthday

Born on this day in 1948, actor Farouque Shaikh grew up in Mumbai, in a simple, middle-class household. Though he studied law at college, he continued to dabble in theater on the side, and eventually decided to give acting a go. Starting with  Garam Hawa  in 1973, Farouque Shaikh essayed agonizing heartbreak and light-hearted comedy with equal ease. If moviegoers fell in love with his shy smile in  Chashme Buddoor,  they marveled at his comedic timing in  Kissi Se Na Kehna,  and ached for his helplessness and loss in  Bazaar . Beyond the silver screen, Shaikh was integral to Indian theater, and his epistolary play, ‘Tumhari Amrita’  with Shabana Azmi delighted audiences for over two decades. TV audiences also loved him, be it for his humility in  Jeena Isi Ka Naam Hai , or for his comic wit in  Chamatkar . Today’s Doodle by  Nimit Malavia  is a tribute to Farouque Shaikh’s cinematic career in a style evocative of h...