Lovelace, Ada, (1815-52), English mathematician and writer. She is chiefly known for her work on the mechanical general-purpose computer, the Analytical Engine, proposed by Charles Babbage FRS (1791-1871) the English mathematician, inventor and mechanical engineer. In 1840, Babbage visited Turin and gave a series of seminars on the Analytical Engine. An account of these by Menabrea was translated from the French by Ada Lovelace, publishing it as ???ketch of the Analytical Engine Invented by Charles Babbage?? appending extensive notes under Babbage's close guidance. She realized that the Analytical Engine was not just a calculator ??it could go beyond numbers. This was the first-ever perception of a modern computer. As her paper included the world??? first published computer program, the Bernoulli Numbers algorithm, she is often cited as the world??? first computer programmer.