Ada Lovelace

Ada Lovelace

Ada Lovelace is the only legitimate child of Lord Byron.  Her parents separated when she was a baby.  Her mother wanted Ada to turn out nothing like her poet father so she encouraged her daughter to study mathematics and science.   Her mother was given the nickname "The Princess of Parallelograms".  Ada was eventually given the nickname "The Enchantress of Numbers".  Ada eventually met Charles Babbage who was working on his Analytical Engine which was an early computer.  Ada was commissioned by Babbage to do some translation.  She took notes, which ended up being longer than the document she was translating for Babbage.  This Note G is believed to be the first computer program.  She suggested that the machine could one day do more than just calculate numbers but do other tasks as well, like compose music.  This all happened in the early 1800's.

In this piece, I created Ada our of all the mathematics of Note G.

Goodies:
Gal's Guide to the Galaxy has many goodies on Ada at https://galsguide.org/2017/07/21/ada-lovelace-your-gal-friday/

Stuff You Missed in History Podcast: https://www.missedinhistory.com/podcasts/who-was-the-enchantress-of-numbers.htm

I recently discovered this adorable steam punk historical fiction comic by Sydeny Paudua. http://sydneypadua.com/2dgoggles/