Amy Dean plays Ada
Lovelace
Ada Lovelace
Born: December 10. 1815, Piccadilly Terrace, London England
Died: November 27, 1852 (aged 36), 6 Great Cumberland
Place, Marylebone, London England
Ada (Byron) Lovelace was the only legitimate daughter of
the illustrious Lord Byron She met Charles Babbage in 1833,
Ada was 17, Babbage 42. It was the beginning of an
extraordinary friendship and collaboration that lasted
until Ada's tragic death from cancer of the cervix in 1852.
Despite being young at the time of their meeting Ada was a
highly proficient mathematician. She has often been
credited as being the first computer programmer, it is
certainly true that her vision, understanding and abilty to
articulate the potential of Babbge's work was for some time
a great asset to his mathematical genius.
Unlike many other great thinkers of the time Ada
immediately saw the possibilities of Babbage's inventions
and the impact they could have on humanity, describing the
Analytical Engine as what we would now understand to be a
multi purpose computer. She saw it capable of,
"...developing and tabulating any function what ever the
engines matirial expression..." she even anticipated the
development of computer generated music.
Ada's education in mathematics was a precaution her mother
took fearing the influence of poetry may cause Ada to
follow in the footsteps of her father. Despite his absence
Byron's influence is evident, Ada combines her knowledge of
mathematics with poetic interpretation and extravagant
language. A knack for expression was not the only trait she
inherited from her father, ill health and an addictive
personality lead Ada into alcohol and laudanum dependancy.
This combined with a small gambling habit makes one imagine
that she could indeed have been the archetypal bad girl of
the period.
The nature of the
friendship between Charles Babbage and Ada Lovelace is one
that has kept the historians guessing. Whether Babbage
looked upon Ada as the daughter he lost or Ada saw Babbage
as the father she never had, their relationship certainly
was one of great fondness.
Babbage called her "The Enchantress of Numbers" and in 1843
he wrote of her:
"Forget this
world and all its troubles and if
possible its multitudinous Charlatans
- every thing
in short but the Enchantress of
Numbers."
www.frameonframe.co.uk