Ada
Lovelace, daughter of poet Lord Byron,
is arguably one of the first computer
scientists in history.
She wrote what some considered the first computer
program about a century before any computer was built, especially anything we
would recognize as computer. James
Essinger presents a summary of her life, and particularly a defense of her
accomplishments, in Ada’s Algorithm.
In any discussion relating to the Byrons, it’s easy to get distracted
by Lovelace’s father. In addition to being a famous poet, he lived a high life
(often on the money of others) and had many lovers. Lady Byron,
who separated from Byron and preserved her family
wealth
from his extravagances, made sure their only daughter had minimal contact with
him. Lovelace had an education in math
and science very unlike other women of her time because Lady Byron hoped it
might counterbalance any of the excesses the girl may have inherited from the
wild Byrons.
Lovelace took to math quite well. In a later age, she might have become
a professional mathematician. In her own 1800s, her tutors sometimes
complained that she reached too far for a woman, and strove to grasp at realms
of math that only men had the stamina to explore. Fortunately her mother, and
later her husband, William,
Lord King, Baron of Ockham (later elevated to Earl of Lovelace), did not
let such foolishness restrain her mathematical education.
She was still quite young, only 17, when she met the much older Charles
Babbage, inventor of the partly build Difference
Engine and never built Analytical
Engine. The Analytical Engine was a calculating machine that could be
programmed using punch cards. Though it was a mechanical device, not an
electronic computer, Babbage’s structure (processor, memory, input and output)
is the same structure of modern computers. Not only did Babbage conceive of
computers a century before one was built, he drew plans for substantially
completing such a machine, though the manufacturing technology of the time
could not have made the parts required.
Lovelace was a friend of Babbage for many years. In 1843, about 10
years after they met, Lovelace published a paper explaining the operation and
capabilities of Babbage’s machine. She had an even larger vision of it than the
inventor. He saw the Analytical Engine as a tool for performing complex
calculations accurately. She saw that it could do more than mathematical
calculations; it could manipulate any symbols in almost any way instructed, so
it might “compose” music by manipulating notes according so some rules, or
perform logical functions, or handle any other information that might be
digitized. She foresaw that what we now call computer science would become a
discipline distinct from math.
She thought the paper might be better received if it was unsigned, but
at the encouragement of her husband she published it under her initials. It was
quickly discovered that “A. A. L.” was a woman, and almost a quickly dismissed
as irrelevant. It wasn’t until the 20th
Century, when people were actually building digital computers, that the
work of Babbage and Lovelace received some respect. Though modern computers do
not have a technological connection to the Analytical Engine that was never
built, it certainly has a strong conceptual connection.
If you’re interested in this book, you may also be interested in
Essinger, James. Ada’s Algorithm:
How Lord Byron’s Daughter Ada Lovelace Launched the Digital Age. 2013.
Brooklyn: Melville House, 2014.
