Her tutor was the extraordinary Mary Somerville, who herself was the first female member of the Royal Astronomical Society. Mary introduced her to Charles Babbage with whom she developed one of the earliest computers for which she wrote the program. Who was this lady who, when she died at the age of 36, was the world’s only computer programmer? When this lady told her parents she wanted to take up nursing, they weren’t very happy. Born Loretta Pleasant in 1920, this lady went to Johns Hopkins Hospital, which was the only hospital in the area that treated black patients at that time.

Source: The Hindu December 30, 2017 10:30 UTC