Ada Lovelace Ada Lovelace was the world’s first computer programmer, writing the first ever algorithm for Charles Babbage Analytical Engine. She didn’t coolly regard a computer to be just an instrument for making out numbers, she imagined also that such machine could have another application in the spheres of music and art! She was thus a precursor of, and to some degree an inspiration for later ideas in human-computer interaction and interaction design more broadly, establishing her as a per se important figure in the history of interaction design.

Lillian Gilbreth applied psychological principles to the workplace and was a pioneer in industrial engineering as well as psychology. Her work environment focused on human factors, and she encouraged businesses to recognize the physical and psychological needs of their workers in order to maximize productivity. She also did time and motion studies with her husband Frank Gilbreth to improve work processes. Her work laid the foundation for ergonomics and user-centered design, which are central ideas to interaction design. As such, she had an incalculable influence on the way interaction design is done today.