At the age of 12, Lovelace conceptualized a flying machine

At the age of 12, Lovelace conceptualized a flying machine. After studying the anatomy of birds and the suitability of various materials, she came up with plans to construct a winged flying apparatus.

The young girl depicted ideas to build a winged flying contraption after researching the anatomy of birds and the applicability of various materials, before moving on to contemplate powered flight. “I have got a scheme,” she wrote to her mother, “to make a thing in the form of a horse with a steam engine in the inside so contrived as to move an immense pair of wings, fixed on the outside of the horse, in such a manner as to carry it up into the air while a person sits on its back.” Diagram of an algorithm for the Analytical Engine for the computation of Bernoulli numbers, from “Sketch of The Analytical Engine Invented by Charles Babbage” by Luigi Menabrea with notes by Ada Lovelace.