Augusta Ada King, Countess of Lovelace (b. London, England, 1815 – d. 1852, London, England) was an English mathematician and writer, chiefly known for her work on Charles Babbage’s proposed mechanical general-purpose computer, the Analytical Engine. She was the only legitimate child of poet Lord Byron and reformer Lady Byron. She was the first to recognize that the machine had applications beyond pure calculation, and she published the first algorithm intended to be carried out by such a machine. As a result, she is often regarded as the first computer programmer.
