Tuesday, October 13 2026 is Ada Lovelace day. A time to remember the mathematical and computer programming prowess of Ada Lovelace – before computers had been invented. And a day to recognise the contribution of women in the STEM sectors of science, technology, engineering and maths.

Ada Lovelace day was launched in 2009 by Suw Charman-Anderson because she "felt passionately that we needed a way to celebrate and highlight women's work and achievements in STEM, which frequently don't get the recognition they deserve. Ada Lovelace was born in 1815 when most girls receiving formal education were excluded from maths and science. Ada's mother had other ideas and insisted that Ada be schooled in those subjects. Aged 17 Ada met mathematician Charles Babbage who had invented the mechanical calculator.

Babbage commissioned Lovelace to translate an article about his calculator. Ada took her commission a stage further by developing a theory that the calculator could translate text, music and images into digital format. She also created an algorithm showing how the mechanical calculator / analytical engine could create Bernoulli numbers.

Her theory was published in 1843 but it was only a century later that her work was recognised as the first computer algorithm and Ada Lovelace was acknowledged as the first computer programmer.

We stand on the shoulders of giants.