Ada Lovelace: The First Computer Programmer

Summary

Le script explore la vie d'Ada Lovelace, souvent considérée comme la première programmeuse informatique du monde, née il y a plus de deux cents ans. Fille du poète Lord Byron, elle était poussée vers les sciences par sa mère. Mentorée par Charles Babbage, le 'père de l'ordinateur', elle a su voir le potentiel des machines bien au-delà de ce que son époque pouvait imaginer. Son travail sur la Machine Analytique, la première machine informatique programmable, a été crucial, bien qu'elle ait été presque oubliée de l'histoire. Son héritage a été redécouvert par Alan Turing et influence la programmation informatique moderne. Ada est célébrée lors de la Journée d'Ada Lovelace, un événement international visant à reconnaître et encourager les femmes dans les domaines du STEM.

Takeaways

• 👶 Ada Lovelace est née en 1815, fille du poète Lord Byron et d'Annabella Milbanke, et est devenue une figure emblématique de la programmation informatique.
• 🧩 Son éducation rigoureuse en mathématiques et en sciences, orchestrée par sa mère, a été un facteur clé dans son développement intellectuel.
• 🤝 Ada a été mentorée par Charles Babbage, considéré comme le père de l'ordinateur, et a contribué à ses idées révolutionnaires sur la machine Analytical Engine.
• 🔢 Elle a conçu un algorithme pour calculer les nombres de Bernoulli, ce qui la positionne comme la première programmeuse informatique du monde.
• 📜 Ada a publié ses notes sur la machine Analytical Engine en 1843, qui étaient trois fois plus longues que l'article original qu'elle traduisait.
• 💡 Son vision pour l'Analytical Engine allait au-delà des capacités de calcul, en reconnaissant son potentiel pour gérer des lettres et des symboles, et même pour l'intelligence artificielle.
• 🎲 Malgré ses réalisations scientifiques, Ada a mené une vie personnelle complexe, marquée par le mariage, la maternité, le jeu et des problèmes de santé.
• 🎭 Ada a été une figure de la haute société victorienne, mais aussi une femme en proie à des luttes personnelles, y compris l'adiction aux opiacés et un cancer de l'utérus qui l'a emportée à l'âge de 36 ans.
• 🔗 Son travail a été révélé et influencé Alan Turing, qui a contribué à la science informatique théorique et à l'intelligence artificielle.
• 🌐 Un langage de programmation appelé 'Ada' a été développé par le département américain de la Défense, et est utilisé dans divers secteurs critiques aujourd'hui.
• 🎉 Ada Lovelace est célébrée chaque année le deuxième mardi d'octobre lors de la Journée d'Ada Lovelace, qui reconnaît les réalisations des femmes dans les domaines du STEM et encourage la participation des filles à ces carrières.

Q & A

Qui était Ada Lovelace et pourquoi est-elle si importante dans l'histoire de l'informatique?

Ada Lovelace, née Augusta Ada Byron, était la fille du poète Lord Byron et d'Annabella Milbanke. Elle est considérée comme la première programmeuse informatique du monde en raison de sa vision et de ses contributions à la compréhension de la machine analytique de Charles Babbage, en montrant comment elle pourrait être programmée pour effectuer des calculs et gérer des lettres et des symboles.

Quel était le lien familial d'Ada Lovelace avec Lord Byron?

Lord Byron était le père biologique d'Ada Lovelace. Elle était sa seule enfant légitime et, bien qu'elle n'ait jamais rencontré son père, elle a été fascinée par lui et sa poésie tout au long de sa vie.

Comment Ada Lovelace a-t-elle été influencée par son éducation?

Sa mère, Annabella Milbanke, a été déterminée à orienter Ada loin de l'instabilité poétique de son père et l'a donc éduquée rigoureusement en mathématiques et en sciences. Elle a été enseignée par de nombreux esprits intellectuels tels que Augustus De Morgan, William King, William Frend et Mary Somerville.

Quel est le rôle de Mary Somerville dans la vie d'Ada Lovelace?

Mary Somerville était une astronome, mathématicienne écossaise et la première femme admise dans la Royal Astronomical Society. Elle a été l'institutrice d'Ada et les deux sont devenues de proches amies.

Pourquoi Ada Lovelace a-t-elle été obsédée par l'aviation?

Après un voyage en Europe, Ada a développé un intérêt pour les oiseaux et le vol. Elle a mené des recherches sur ce qu'elle appelait la "flyology" et a conçu un engin volant capable de battre des ailes, en envisageant le type de matériau, l'équipement de navigation et la vapeur comme source de puissance.

Quel est le lien entre Ada Lovelace et Charles Babbage?

Ada Lovelace a rencontré Charles Babbage, le "père de l'ordinateur", lors d'un événement social et a été impressionnée par sa machine, la Difference Engine. Babbage est devenu son mentor et ami de toute une vie, et elle a contribué à ses idées en développant la notion de programmation pour la machine analytique qu'il concevait.

Quelle est la différence entre la Difference Engine et l'Analytical Engine de Charles Babbage?

La Difference Engine était un calculateur mécanique conçu pour effectuer des calculs complexes en utilisant uniquement l'addition. L'Analytical Engine, quant à elle, était un concept plus avancé et plus complexe, considérée comme la première machine informatique à but général programmable du monde.

Quels étaient les éléments clés de la machine Analytical Engine de Babbage?

L'Analytical Engine comprenait quatre composants principaux : la meule (mill) pour les calculs, le magasin (store) pour stocker les données, et le lecteur et l'imprimeur pour l'entrée (reader) et la sortie (printer) des données.

Quel est le programme informatique attribué à Ada Lovelace et pourquoi est-il significatif?

Ada Lovelace a écrit un algorithme pour la machine Analytical Engine capable de calculer les nombres de Bernoulli, ce qui est considéré comme le premier programme informatique. Elle a également théorisé sur la création de codes pour gérer les lettres et les symboles, et sur la possibilité de boucles pour la répétition d'instructions.

Comment Ada Lovelace a-t-elle envisagé l'utilisation future de l'Analytical Engine?

Ada a écrit qu'il n'y avait pas de prétention de l'Analytical Engine à créer quelque chose d'original, mais qu'elle pouvait effectuer tout ce que nous savions lui commander de faire. Elle a également exprimé des pensées sur l'intelligence artificielle, soulignant que l'analyse pourrait être suivie mais sans pouvoir anticiper de nouvelles relations analytiques ou vérités.

Quelle est la conséquence de la vie personnelle d'Ada Lovelace sur sa réputation et son héritage?

La vie personnelle d'Ada, marquée par des problèmes de santé, des rumeurs d'adultère et de jeu, a compliqué sa réputation. Néanmoins, son héritage scientifique et technologique a été reconnu et célébré, notamment par le biais de la journée internationale d'Ada Lovelace et du langage de programmation Ada.

Pourquoi Ada Lovelace est-elle célébrée aujourd'hui?

Ada Lovelace est célébrée pour ses contributions à la compréhension de la programmation et de la machine analytique, ainsi que pour son rôle de pionnière dans le domaine des sciences exactes. Son héritage a été honoré par le nom d'un langage de programmation utilisé dans de nombreux secteurs critiques, et un jour est dédié à son mémoire pour encourager la participation des femmes dans les carrières scientifiques et technologiques.

Outlines

00:00

🔢 La Naissance de la Première Programmatrice du Monde

Le premier paragraphe présente Augusta Ada Byron, connue sous le nom de Lady Ada Lovelace, considérée comme la première programmeuse informatique du monde. Née en 1815, fille du poète Lord Byron et d'Annabella Milbanke, elle est élevée dans un environnement strictement religieux et orienté vers les sciences et la mathématique. Malgré les préjugés de son époque, elle démontre un talent hors du commun pour la mathématique et la conception de machines, comme sa tentative d'invention d'une machine volante. Son éducation ingénieuse et sa fascination pour les sciences lui ouvrent la porte vers une collaboration avec Charles Babbage, le 'père de l'ordinateur', et lui permettent de devenir une figure emblématique de l'histoire de l'informatique.

05:02

🤖 L'Invention de l'Analytical Engine et la Vision d'Ada

Dans ce paragraphe, on explore le développement de l'Analytical Engine par Charles Babbage, une machine considérée comme le premier ordinateur programmable au monde. Ada Lovelace, guidée par sa passion pour l'innovation technologique, devient la protégée de Babbage et s'intéresse particulièrement au concept des cartes perforées utilisées dans la métier Jacquard, qu'elle compare à la programmation de l'Analytical Engine. Elle traduit et élargit un article sur la machine, ajoutant ses propres commentaires qui deviennent trois fois plus longs que l'article original, et publie ses notes dans le journal Scientific Memoirs en 1843. C'est dans cette traduction que Lovelace énonce la première 'programme' informatique, en décrivant comment la machine pourrait calculer les nombres de Bernoulli, et elle envisage même les implications de l'intelligence artificielle.

10:06

👩‍🔬 La Vie Personnelle et la Carrière d'Ada Lovelace

Ce paragraphe examine la vie personnelle d'Ada Lovelace, y compris son mariage avec William King, qui devient plus tard le Earl of Lovelace, et la naissance de leurs trois enfants. Malgré ses responsabilités familiales, Ada poursuit sa passion pour les études mathématiques et scientifiques, étayant sa relation intellectuelle avec des figures prestigieuses de son époque. Cependant, sa vie est également marquée par des défis, tels que des problèmes de santé récurrents, un recours à l'opium en raison de ses douleurs, et des rumeurs d'infidélité. Ada est décrite comme une femme complexe et contradictoirement, à la fois brillante et emblématique de son époque, mais aussi touchée par les travers et les épreuves humaines courants.

15:06

🏆 L'Héritage d'Ada Lovelace et son Impact sur l'Histoire

Le dernier paragraphe aborde l'héritage posthume d'Ada Lovelace et son importance dans l'évolution de l'informatique moderne. Son travail, longtemps oublié, est redécouvert par Alan Turing au cours de la Seconde Guerre mondiale, qui est influencé par sa vision de la programmation et de l'intelligence artificielle. Ada est honorée par la création d'un langage de programmation nommé 'Ada', utilisé dans divers secteurs critiques. De plus, la Journée d'Ada Lovelace est instituée pour célébrer les réalisations des femmes dans les domaines des sciences, de la technologie, de l'ingénierie et des mathématiques (STEM) et encourager la participation féminine dans ces domaines. L'héritage d'Ada est omniprésent dans notre monde numérique actuel, qu'il s'agisse de reconnaissance de son rôle de 'première programmeuse informatique' ou de débats sur la justesse de cette affirmation.

Keywords

💡Ada Lovelace

Ada Lovelace était une mathématicienne et écrivaine britannique, souvent considérée comme la première programmeuse informatique au monde. Dans le script, elle est présentée comme une figure clé de l'histoire de l'informatique, qui a travaillé avec Charles Babbage et a visionné les potentialités du moteur analytique bien avant que l'informatique moderne ne prenne forme.

💡Charles Babbage

Charles Babbage, mentionné dans le script, était un inventeur et mathématicien britannique connu pour avoir conçu la machine à différences et le moteur analytique, considéré comme les prédécesseurs des ordinateurs modernes. Son travail a influencé Ada Lovelace et a été crucial pour le développement de la programmation.

💡Moteur Analytique

Le moteur analytique est une machine conçue par Charles Babbage et décrite dans le script comme étant le premier ordinateur généraliste programmable du monde. C'est autour de cette machine que se déroulent les réflexions et les contributions d'Ada Lovelace, qui a envisagé ses capacités bien au-delà des seules calculs numériques.

💡Première programmeuse

Dans le script, Ada Lovelace est décrite comme étant la première programmeuse. Elle a écrit un algorithme pour le moteur analytique, ce qui la positionne comme précurseure de la programmation informatique. Ce terme illustre son rôle dans l'histoire de la technologie.

💡Algorithme

L'algorithme est un ensemble de procédures ou de règles utilisées pour résoudre un problème ou exécuter une tâche. Dans le script, il est mentionné que Lovelace a conçu un algorithme pour calculer les nombres de Bernoulli, ce qui est considéré comme le premier exemple de programme informatique.

💡Intelligence Artificielle

Le script aborde le sujet de l'intelligence artificielle en citant les réflexions d'Ada Lovelace sur les capacités et les limites du moteur analytique. Elle envisageait les machines comme des outils capables d'exécuter des tâches spécifiques, mais sans pouvoir originer de nouvelles idées ou relations analytiques.

💡Règles de Poincage

Les règles de poincage, ou cartes perforées, étaient utilisées pour contrôler les métiers Jacquard et sont mentionnées dans le script comme une source d'inspiration pour Ada Lovelace. Ces cartes ont permis de lier les motifs tissés aux programmes informatiques, influençant ainsi la conception de la programmation.

💡Lord Byron

Lord Byron, le père d'Ada Lovelace, était un poète célèbre et un membre de la haute société britannique. Bien qu'il n'ait pas eu une relation étroite avec sa fille, sa notoriété et son influence culturelle ont façonné le contexte de vie d'Ada et son environnement social.

💡Révolution Industrielle

La révolution industrielle, qui se déroulait à l'époque d'Ada Lovelace, est mentionnée dans le script comme un contexte historique clé pour les avancées technologiques. C'est dans ce contexte que les idées d'Ada et les machines de Babbage ont été conçues et ont trouvé un terrain fertile pour la réflexion et le développement.

💡Langage de programmation Ada

Le langage de programmation Ada est nommé en l'honneur d'Ada Lovelace et est mentionné dans le script comme un exemple de la reconnaissance de ses contributions dans le domaine de l'informatique. Ce langage est utilisé dans divers secteurs pour les systèmes en temps réel et témoigne de l'héritage d'Ada dans le monde technologique moderne.

Highlights

Ada Lovelace, considered the world's first computer programmer, was born over two hundred years ago.

Ada was the daughter of the famous Romantic poet Lord Byron and a zealous mother focused on mathematics and science.

Ada's education was rigorous in mathematics and science, unusual for girls in the 19th century.

Ada was mentored by Charles Babbage, known today as the 'father of the computer'.

She conceptualized a flying machine in her youth, showing her inventive mind.

Ada's health was fragile, with sickness and temporary disability in her youth.

Ada became a socialite and was presented at Court, charming attendees with her intellect.

Babbage unveiled his Difference Engine to Ada, sparking her lifelong interest in computing.

The Analytical Engine, Babbage's more complex machine, is considered the world's first programmable computer.

Ada saw the potential in the Analytical Engine beyond what Babbage envisioned, including its ability to handle letters and symbols.

Ada wrote the first computer program, an algorithm for calculating Bernoulli numbers.

Her notes on the Analytical Engine were published in 1843, capturing her vision for its potential.

Ada proposed to Babbage that she promote the Analytical Engine while he focused on building it.

Ada's personal life was complex, involving marriage, children, gambling, and health issues.

Ada Lovelace Day celebrates the achievements of women in STEM and aims to increase their visibility.

Ada's legacy is immortalized in the Ada programming language, used in various industries today.

Ada's vision for computing surpassed her contemporaries and laid the groundwork for modern computer science.

Transcripts

What if I told you the world’s “first computer programmer” was born over two hundred

years ago?

And, what if that programmer was a she.

Lady Ada Lovelace was her name -- and her genius was nearly lost to history.

Daughter to the famous Romantic poet Lord Byron, Ada was almost relegated as a footnote

in her father’s biography.

In the nineteenth century, at the height of the industrial revolution, she was pushed

into the male dominion of mathematics and science by her zealot mother.

Mentored by the “father of the computer,” she emerged as a woman far ahead of her time

in her ability to see what could be.

Not your typical aristocratic lady, part of Ada’s story holds a shadowy secret.

And, on her deathbed, her last wish speaks volumes.

Today on Biographics we explore the “Enchantress of Number,” Ada Lovelace.

Early Life

Ada Lovelace was born Augusta Ada Byron in London on December 10, 1815 to the philandering

Romantic poet Lord Byron and strictly religious Annabella Milbanke.

Ada was Lord Byron’s only legitimate child.

Lord and Lady Byron were members of the high British society.

Beyond social status, they shared virtually nothing in common.

Annabella was analytical and conformist while Lord Byron cared little for numbers and logic.

True, he was a celebrated and adored poet, yet his behavior raised more than a few eyebrows.

He was known to drink from a human skull, own a pet bear, and engage in numerous love

affairs with both men and women.

One notorious scandal involved an affair with his own half-sister.

A scorned lover once said of Lord Byron, he was “mad, bad, and dangerous to know.”

Not surprisingly, Annabella and Lord Byron’s marriage did not last beyond a year.

In a contemptuous split when Ada was only five weeks old, Lord Byron left the home.

He wrote of this parting, “Is thy face like thy mother's my fair child!

ADA!

sole daughter of my house and heart?”

Deeply bitter and resentful, Lady Annabella covered his portrait with a large curtain

and forbade Ada from ever looking at it.

Four months after Lord Byron left his infant daughter he left England for good, never to

return.

When Ada was eight years old, he died of an illness in Greece while fighting in the war

of independence.

He was 36 years old.

Although Ada never met her father, she remained fascinated with him and his poetry over the

course of her life.

Annabella was determined to steer her daughter away from developing her father’s "volatile

poetic insanity" as she called it.

She truly believed Lord Byron was mentally ill.

Almost to the brink of fanaticism, Annabella saw to it that Ada received an education rigorous

in mathematics and science.

This was a rather unusual course of study for girls in British Victorian society even

if Annabella herself was gifted in math.

Byron referred to her as the “Princess of Parallelograms.”

Popular opinion of the time favored one of Ada’s later tutors and brilliant mathematician,

Augustus De Morgan, who believed women were incapable of excelling in the discipline.

On the one hand, De Morgan acknowledged Ada’s abilities yet in a letter to her mother he

wrote, “The very great tension of mind which they require is beyond the strength of a woman's

physical power of application.”

Basically meaning, women were incapable because they were not as strong as men.

Ada would prove that theory wrong.

As a young girl and into her teen years Ada was mostly isolated and did not spend a great

deal of time with her mother.

Still, Annabella was committed to her daughter’s education and well-being.

She employed some of the greatest intellectual minds to tutor Ada including William King,

a physician, William Frend, a social reformer and Mary Somerville, a Scottish astronomer,

mathematician, and the first woman to be admitted into the Royal Astronomical Society.

Ada and Somerville became close friends.

In addition to algebra and geometry, Ada was taught lessons in history, literature, languages,

geography, music, sewing and shorthand.

These were all common subject areas but Ada’s mother planned something else that was far

more bizarre.

In an attempt to protect her daughter from developing her father’s impulses, Ada had

to lie still for long periods of time.

This was a lesson in self-control.

Ada was a bright student and showed promise for math and science.

At the age of 12 after a year-long tour of Europe, she became obsessed with birds and

flight.

She researched what she referred to as ““flyology,” and imaginatively and methodically conceptualized

a flying machine that could flap its wings.

She wrote to her mother, “I have got a scheme, 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.”

For her design, she considered the type of material -- paper, silk, or feathers; navigational

equipment -- a compass; and steam -- the source of power.

In between throwing herself into intellectual pursuits, Ada battled sickness.

She frequently complained of headaches that obscured her vision.

In 1829, she contracted measles, a common childhood affliction in the 1800s.

The illness resulted in continuous bed rest for a year and she was disabled temporarily.

In 1831 at the age of 16, she was finally able to walk again with the aid of crutches.

By the age of 17 Ada was feeling better and in keeping with the customs of her social

class, she was presented at Court and became became a popular belle of the season -- dancing

and charming the attendees with her “brilliant mind.”

Spark of Genius

The industrial revolution was in full force by the time Ada was a teenager.

It was a glorious time in history for the advancement of technology, and the perfect

time for the inquisitive Ada to be coming of age.

Make no mistake, she had the makings of a phenom (inherit abilities combined with rigorous

education).

She also had access to intellects, inventors, and influential people in power all because

of her position in society.

All of this was the perfect storm and meeting the famed inventor Charles Babbage was Ada’s

lightning bolt.

In 1833, the seventeen year old Ada was among a select group to attend a coveted party hosted

by Babbage, know by many today as the “father of the computer.”

A guest wrote at the time, “One of the three qualifications for those who sought to be

invited were intellect, beauty, or rank.”

Ada fit right in.

At the soiree, Babbage unveiled a small part of his latest machine, a massive mechanical

calculator known as the Difference Engine.

The design for Babbage’s engine was revolutionary and fully constructed, would perform the work

of an army of men crunching numbers.

The machine would be powered by steam and would methodically perform complex calculations

using only addition, by breaking it into smaller and smaller pieces -- known as the method

of finite differences.

Then, it would print out the values into a table.

Babbage’s machine had enormous potential in the nineteenth century since tables were

used in many areas including navigation, astronomy and engineering.

With this powerful calculator, human error would be erased.

The engine was accurate within thirty one decimal places.

To many guests that night Babbage’s invention was a hunk of metal and little more than a

party favor.

Not to Ada.

De Morgan’s wife was there, and later wrote of the night, “When most of the guests looked

on with the expression that savages show on seeing a looking glass, Miss Byron, young

as she was, understood its working and saw the great beauty of the invention.”

Babbage must have been impressed with Ada’s intellect and enthusiasm for the machine.

From that night on, he remained her mentor and lifelong friend.

Analytical Engine

Babbage’s Difference Engine would not come to be after a disagreement with his engineer

Joseph Clement.

In those days, by law, the engineer owned the drawings and after their falling out,

he could not get them back.

Consequently, the British government also withdrew their funding for the project.

This forced Babbage back to his original concept and he came up with an even better idea in

1834 -- a far more complex machine he called the Analytical Engine.

The Analytical Engine is considered to be the world’s first programmable general-purpose

computer.

The basic structure of the engine is essentially the same as modern-day computers.

Of course, Babbage’s machine would have been massive in scale.

His entry-level machines would have been 45 feet long by 15 feet high but he talked about

others, ten times the size.

Nothing like it had ever been conceived or attempted to be built.

In fact, in his lifetime, only a small trial engine was constructed.

The Analytical Engine consisted of four components: the mill, which calculated units; the store,

where the data was held for processing; and the reader and printer, the input and output

devices.

It was truly groundbreaking and would become Ada’s legacy.

Since Ada and Babbage’s first meeting, she became his protege; he was the teacher and

she was the pupil.

After Babbage showed her the plans for the Analytical Engine, she eagerly went on a tour

of cotton mills in the north of England to see the most technologically advanced machine

of the day -- the Jacquard loom.

The loom automated weaving of patterned silk and was controlled by a series of punch cards.

It was fascinating and also controversial.

A cotton mill with a Jacquard loom didn’t need skilled workers to weave intricate patterns.

While groups such as the Luddites were protesting against these machines on account of replacing

workers’ jobs, Ada was thinking something else entirely.

She was deeply interested in the genius behind the punch cards and wanted to know how men

were translating the complicated patterns into something simple the loom could understand.

She saw the similarities to her beloved machine and later wrote, “The Analytical Engine

weaves algebraic patterns just as the Jacquard loom weaves flowers and leaves.”

For the next ten years, in between getting married and having three children, Ada focused

all her energy into learning everything she could about the Analytical Engine.

She wrote, “I think I am more determined than ever in my future plans, and I have quite

made up my mind that nothing must be suffered to interfere with them.

I intend to make such arrangements in town as will secure me a couple of hours daily

(with very few exceptions) for my studies.”

After attending one of Babbage’s rare lectures, a military engineer and future Italian prime

minister Luigi Menabrea wrote an impressive article, Sketch of the analytical engine invented

by Charles Babbage Esquir.

The paper was extremely detailed and mathematical -- and it was also written in French.

Ada decided to translate the paper and, since she knew the engine so well she would add

her own thoughts to it.

Many years later Babbage claimed to have told Ada to translate it and write her own account,

and she responded by saying she hadn’t thought of it.

Either way, she went about the task “like a devil possessed,” and when she was finished,

her notes were three times as long as the original paper.

Ada published her completed article in Scientific Memoirs, an English scientific journal published

by Richard Taylor in 1843.

Ada used only her initials “A.A.L.,” for Augusta Ada Lovelace, in the publication.

The part of the paper that gives weight to Ada’s credit as “first computer programmer”

comes in section G. In it, Ada wrote of how the engine could be programmed with a code

to calculate Bernoulli numbers -- an algorithm to be carried out by a machine and thus the

first computer program.

Along with numbers, Ada described how codes could be created for the device to handle

letters and symbols.

She also theorized a method for the engine to repeat a series of instructions, or looping,

a process computer programs use today.

Ada also offered up other concepts in her paper, such as thoughts on artificial intelligence.

She wrote, “The Analytical Engine has no pretensions whatever to originate anything.

It can do whatever we know how to order it to perform.

It can follow analysis; but it has no power of anticipating any analytical relations or

truths.”

Her notes were significant in that they captured Ada’s vision for the Analytical Engine.

And this is where she exceeds her mentor in understanding its full potential.

Babbage’s historian wrote:

“Ada saw something that Babbage in some sense failed to see.

In Babbage's world his engines were bound by number...What Lovelace saw...was that number

could represent entities other than quantity….looking back from the present high ground of modern

computing, if we are looking and sifting history for that transition, then that transition

was made explicitly by Ada in that 1843 paper.”

Babbage was impressed with Ada and wrote, “The more I read your notes, the more surprised

I am and regret not having earlier explored so rich a vein of the noblest metal.”

The next obvious step for the Analytical Engine would have been Babbage and Ada’s crowning

moment, but it would not come to pass.

Babbage was known to be a difficult man and he argued with politicians over his machines.

The relationship with Parliament was particularly sour after Babbage failed to deliver his government

funded, Difference Engine.

The loss of money in those days was the equivalent of two Royal Navy warships.

Ada had a plan to promote the engine but it was a sensitive subject -- one she broached

in a letter dated August 14, 1843.

She asked Babbage if she could take over for him in promoting the Analytical Engine while

he step aside and focus only on building it.

She ended with, “You will wonder over this last query, but I strongly advise you not

to reject it.”

Babbage said no, refusing all of her conditions.

He would not give up control and likely saw her asking, and presuming she could raise

the money, as an audacious move.

Personal Life

Depending on the lens used to evaluate Ada, she can be hailed as a genius, a Victorian

high society lady, a mother and wife, a gambler, adulteress, or drug addict.

In truth, she may have been all of these things.

She was like most of us -- complex and contradictory.

As one would expect, Ada married and had children.

She wed William King (not William King her tutor) in 1835 at the age of 19.

He was 30.

King seemed to be a “precise, conscientious and decent man, if somewhat stiff.”

Three years after they tied the knot, King became the Earl of Lovelace and Ada took the

title Countess of Lovelace.

They had three children together: Byron, born in May 1836; Anne Isabella, called Annabella,

born in September 1837; and Ralph Gordon, born in July 1839.

For a time between 1835 and 1839 Ada focused most of energy on running the large household

though she found time for horse riding, learning the harp and studying mathematics.

After their third child was born, Ada turned her attention back to maths and sciences,

and was tutored by Augustus De Morgan.

King was supportive.

Socially, the couple had many prominent friends and acquaintances including the writer Charles

Dickens.

In addition to headaches and measles suffered in childhood, Ada had recurrent health problems

as an adult.

After a bout of cholera in 1837 she had problems with asthma and her digestive system.

She was prescribed the powerfully addictive painkiller laudanum, an opiate, to be taken

with wine.

The drug altered her personality and she reported hallucinations and mood swings.

In 1841, Ada and Medora Leigh, the daughter of Lord Byron's half-sister Augusta Leigh,

were told by Ada's mother that Lord Byron was also Medora's father.

In February, Ada wrote to her mother: “I am not in the least astonished.

In fact, you merely confirm what I have for years and years felt scarcely a doubt about,

but should have considered it most improper in me to hint to you that I in any way suspected.”

She did not blame the incestuous relationship on her father, but instead blamed Augusta

Leigh: “I fear she is more inherently wicked than he ever was.”

In the 1840s Ada flirted with scandals.

First, from a relaxed relationship with men who were not her husband, which led to rumours

she was having affairs.

And then, an old family vice surfaced.

Ada’s life took a shadowy turn in 1851 when she began gambling on horses.

Perhaps she was trying in vain to raise funds for her beloved Analytical Engine but no one

really knows.

Ada did not act alone, she was part of a gambling ring and in the spring season, her bets went

horribly wrong.

It has been said, Ada may have devised a mathematical scheme to predict the winning horses.

If so, it didn’t work out well for her.

In a failed bet at the Epsom Derby, Ada ended up owing the equivalent of roughly half a

million pounds.

To get out of her debt, she pawned some of the family jewels.

In 1852, Ada became gravely ill and took to her bed.

She died painfully and slowly of uterine cancer on November 27, 1852 at the age of 36 -- the

exact age her father had been.

A few months before she died, she made an unknown confession to her husband that made

him leave her bedside.

Her final wish was an act of defiance against her mother.

Ada wanted to be buried next to the man who loomed large in her life but she never knew...her

father.

Ada’s body was taken miles away from her home to the Byron family vault inside the

Church of St. Mary Magdalene in the small English town of Hucknall.

Ada’s Legacy

“That brain of mine is something more than merely mortal, as time will show.”

Ada’s contributions were buried for 100 years...discovered by a scientist, Alan Turing,

in the 1940s during the Second World War.

Turing was something of a kindred spirit who who was interested in the same things she

was -- machines that could act upon instruction.

His work ultimately led the effort to build a machine with the code name, The Bombe that

deciphered encrypted messages sent by Hitler’s armed forces.

Turing’s work had begun before reading Ada’s notes on the Analytical Engine yet he was

greatly influenced by them.

She, along with Babbage, essentially paved the way for Turing who is considered today

as the father of theoretical computer science and artificial intelligence.

Consequently, Ada’s notes surfaced for the world in B.V.

Bowden’s book “Faster Than Thought: A Symposium on Digital Computing Machines”

in 1953.

Then, during the 1970s, the U.S. Department of Defense developed a high-order computer

programming language to supersede the hundreds of different ones then in use by the military.

It was named “Ada.”

Ada is still used around the world today in the operation of real-time systems in the

aviation, health care, transportation, financial, infrastructure and space industries.

In the present day, an international celebration takes place on the second Tuesday of October

-- Ada Lovelace Day.

Founded in 2009 by Suw Charman-Anderson, it’s aim is to recognize the achievements of women

in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM).

It also has a goal to increase the profile of women in STEM and, in doing so, create

new role models who will encourage more girls into STEM careers.

Ada is everywhere in our modern digital world -- immortalized on the internet forever in

news articles, blog posts, memes, quotable quotes...there’s even some controversy of

whether or not she deserves the claim “first computer programmer.”

But, there is no denying her vision far surpassed any of her contemporaries, including Babbage.

In all his 11 volumes of published writings he never wrote of the aspirations for computing

like Ada had.

“Those who have learned to walk on the threshold of the unknown worlds, by means of what are

commonly termed par excellence the exact sciences, may then, with the fair white wings of imagination,

hope to soar further into the unexplored amidst which we live.”