Her correspondence with De Morgan in November 1841 was almost daily; she was working feverishly, “drowning in Calculus.” Ada may also have been writing other feverish letters to Dr. Kay that do not remain because after Ada died he wrote Lady Byron: “No passage of my life is so full of marvel as the friendship with which I was honoured by your daughter. I felt that such a friendship as that with which she had distinguished me, must cease to be demonstrative after my marriage.”
Whatever the exact nature of their relationship was, it can only be hinted at. There are hints. On 21 October Dr Kay wrote to Ada: “I have bethought me a new name for you which is prompted by your waywardness, beauty, & intangibility – You always elude my grasp, and seem to delight in leading me into some bog, while I am gazing on you half in admiration, half in wonder, somewhat in apprehension, and altogether in kindness. Henceforth you are christened ‘Will-o’-the Whisp.’ A delusive & beautiful light flickering with wayward course over every dangerous pitfall.”
On 27 October Ada decided to go to town, meaning London. She wrote her mother a letter about Byron and returned to Ashley Combe, Porlock. Ada found it difficult to understand graphing a functional equation, a wave, and generating that wave by graphing it point by point.
Lord Byron described emotional relationships in terms of mathematical shapes, “princess of the parallelograms,” “squaring her notions.” Ada went in the opposite direction. In a letter written on 27 November [1841] she used the personal characterization Kay attributed to her, a “Will-o’-the Whisp” (Kay misspelled Wisp) to describe the whole functional equation. By doing that she revealed not only her frustration, but her understanding.
Using modern mathematical, scientific, and economic terminology, she laid a personal characterization on a mathematical term, much as a seamstress lays a pattern on material. Then Ada used the word “tangibility” to emphasize the “Will-o’-the-Wisp” metaphor.
She wrote: “I do not know when I have been so tantalized by anything, & should be ashamed to say how much time I have spent upon it, in vain. These Functional Equations are complete Will-o’-the-Wisps to me. The moment I fancy I have really at last got hold of something tangible & substantial, it all recedes further and further & vanishes again into thin air. . .”
The collapse Ada felt in her verbal metaphor of tangibility is suggestive of a problem with the mathematical metaphors of modern physics, the dilemma that relates to the difficulty in measuring a wave function that changes continuously and causally (measuring at two specific points separated by time) and discontinuously and erratically, as a result of observation. The difficulty in observation is termed “the collapse of the wave-function.”
Poetical Science
One of the most important books I have read is George Lakoff’s The Metaphors We Live By. In a recent lecture Lakoff referred to the frames, or the mind-sets, we live by. People who have rigid frames are predictable and are very slow to recognize any evidence that would upset their mind-set. To use poetical science effectively in mathematics and life you need to examine whether the metaphors are accurate.
De Morgan and Ada traded metaphors in describing mathematics that often cut to the heart of the matter.
Describe some of the technologies we use today using metaphors:
1. Computers
2. Cellular phones
3. Social networking
4. Search engine
11
Scorn and Fury, Poetical Genius, Not Dropping the Thread of Mathematics,
A Nice Colony of Friends
[1842]
It appears that Ada took a giant step back from her mathematical studies, for no more letters to De Morgan were found in the files for the rest of 1841. Once again Ada was ill. She complained about being tormented by smoke but that did not stop her from going to the theater to see Macready perform in the Merchant of Venice. She started singing lessons, explaining to her husband that when she became more proficient she could do little concerts for her friends. In the meantime, given her emotional state, it was a good way to express her “scorn and fury.” She even turned to poetry. She concluded that the theater and music were far more appropriate channels for her energies and intellect. Ada’s activities and interests at this time provoked strong reactions from her family. Neither her husband nor her mother approved of that direction. William wrote Ada many letters asking her not to drop her mathematical and scientific interests. The more William criticized Ada’s musical and dramatic interests, the more she defended her position.
Many of her letters are not dated, and from the inconsistency in tone, it may appear that some are out of sequence, but then Ada was not consistent. She often vacillated between being very practical like her mother and very wild like her father, especially during 1842 when she was trying to create a future that would meet both her intellectual and emotional needs.
Ada did her share of criticizing William. She mocked his handwriting, telling him that he should have no fears that the servants might read his letters. She wrote: “I admire your handwriting. But tho’ very pretty it never is very legible.” She also took William to task by admonishing him for the way he dealt with the children and suggested instead of teaching Byron in a classroom, he should “take him outdoors . . . conversing with him on the objects around him.” After he had received many pages of emotional letters, William stopped humoring her. He was skeptical about her hopes for a musical and literary career. He related a story of a bird pecking at the picture on a Greek vase, thinking it was real. Ada, like the bird, was deluded.
William discussed the state of affairs with Lady Byron, which certainly did not please Ada, but she slowly resumed “doing her duty.” However, Ada’s attitude towards both her husband and her mother began to change. It was difficult for her to step back from either one, especially when they acted as a concerted force. And to add to Ada’s torment at this time, Lady Byron kept the Medora issue alive for her. Elizabeth Medora was set up in a home not far from Ockham.
There was relief from the melodrama. William’s sister Hester was a major support for Ada. Later, in the 1880s, Lady Anne Blunt (Annabella) recalled how her Aunt Hester brought joy to her childhood. Hester helped Ada with the children, and when she became engaged to Sir George Craufurd, Ada had mixed emotions. She suspected that her close relationship to Hester would change, but she still thought of Babbage’s engine and writings. He was always in the back of her mind and she seized the opportunity to write him.
To Charles Babbage
Monday, 2 May [1842]
St James’ Square
My Dear Babbage. Will you do me the favor of showing your Calculating Machine to an old friend of mine, who is on leave of absence from India, & is to return there immediately. It is Mr Henry Siddons, Grandson of the Mrs Siddons, & first cousin to Mrs Butler, & Adelaide Kemble.
He is very desirous of just seeing the small portion that was completed, of your old machine. His wishes arise from the perusal of your 9th Bridgewater Treatise; & he would ask leave to call on you for that purpose any morning this week that you can fix.
Ada delighted in her many admiring male friends. A few were her age but many were older men like Charles Babbage and Sir David Brewster. On a visit to Cambridge in February 1842, one of her friends, Dr. Kay, married and henceforth became known as Dr Kay-Shuttleworth. Ada wrote William, “what a nice colony of friends I would have to live with me! I would have F. Knight, Dr Locock, Gamlen, & I think Kay Shuttleworth. And perhaps admit you as 5th; tho’ really of what use an old Crow could be to me I know not. You see the Bird is saucy today! – But yet she’s a good bird too”
During the summer of 1842, Ada was still disturbed by the “Paris Affair,” or, more specifically, Elizabeth Medora Leigh. Medora was a constant reminder of Ada’s father’s alleged depravity. Ada had tried to help when she was in Paris by hiring a French maid, Nathalie Beaurepaire, who was paid by Lady Byron. Nathalie told Lady Byron about Medora’s behavior and activities. It became obvious to Nat
halie that Medora was not a “proper lady.” Before Medora left for a short trip to France, Ada suggested solutions to Medora’s problems. She became her mother’s voice to Medora, as she would soon become Babbage’s voice to the scientific community. Elizabeth Medora would have none of Ada’s suggestions. Babbage had a different view of Ada’s suggestions.
For whatever reason Ada became more grounded. She wrote to William, which must have pleased him, that De Morgan was with her and that she was returning to her mathematical studies. It appears that Ada returned to the study of mathematics in the fall of 1842. Ada’s letters reveal that her approach to mathematics was out of the ordinary, most likely because she questioned basic assumptions. De Morgan, who knew her capacity better than anyone else, stated unequivocally that Ada’s “power of thinking from the beginning of my correspondence with her, has been so utterly out of common way for any beginner, man, or woman. Mrs Somerville’s mind never led her into other than the details of mathematical work: Lady L [Lovelace] will take quite a different route.”
Ada ran into difficulty. She complained that she constantly questioned whether she understood “what the subjects of the reasoning are; & to go over carefully the verbal & symbolic representative of a thing or an idea, with the question respecting each ‘now what does it mean, & how was it got?’ Am I sure of this, is each instance involved in the subject?” She wrote to Woronzow Greig that she had her grand goals always in the back of her mind.
To Woronzow Greig
Friday, 16 December [1842]
Ashley
Dear Greig. . . We are to return directly to Surrey. . .As to myself, I think further explanation is necessary to you. At this moment I can only say that I never dreamt of excelling in more than two things, viz: one mental & one purely executive & active pursuit.
Say for instance my Harp & Singing; & whatever mental pursuit I might choose ultimately. I say Harp & Singing because I reckon them as one. The same principles apply to both. In the one I am already advanced three-fourths of the way, & the other is not likely to be a matter of much difficulty owing to my having the most flexible voice possible.
I am not dropping the thread of Science & Mathematics; & this may probably still be my ultimate vocation. Altho’ it is likely perhaps to have a formidable rival to its being other than just my pastime; should I take seriously with “undivided mind” to musical Composition.
Time must show. To say the truth, I have less ambition than I had. And what I really care most about is now perhaps to establish in my mind those principles & habits that will best fit me for the next state. There is in my nervous system such utter want of all ballast & steadiness, that I cannot regard my life or powers as other than precarious.
And I am just the person to drop off some fine day when nobody knows anything about the matter or expects it. I have, I hope, a perfect confidence, in every contingency that may arise. –
Yours ever
A.L. ...
To Woronzow Greig
Friday Night, 31 December [1842]
St James’ Square
Dear Mr. Greig. Do come at 5 o’clock tomorrow; stay & dine with me & go to the Play. And now don’t be unhappy about me. I am doing very well indeed;– as well as possible. And I have no notion or idea whatever of either taking myself out of the world, or being a useless invalid in it. So be easy. – You know I am a d — d odd animal! And as my mother often says, she never has quite yet made up her mind if it Devil or Angel that watches peculiarly over me; only that it is one or the other, without doubt! – (And for my part, I am quite indifferent which) –
But if you knew one half the harum-scarum extraordinary things I do, you would certainly incline to the idea that I have a Spell of some sort about me. I am positive that no other She Creature of my years could possibly attempt many of my everyday performances, with any impunity.
I think I must amuse you when we meet, by telling you some of them. –
Yours ever
A.L.
The next letter’s date is difficult to determine but it marks a great change in Ada’s interests and activities. This letter is on display in a case at Newstead Abbey, Lord Byron’s ancestral home. She talks about finally becoming committed to science and in a very specific way connected to Charles Babbage’s great idea for the Analytical Engine.
To Charles Babbage
Sunday, [Undated] [Maybe 1843]
Ockham
The lamentably small quantity of margin has placed my ingenuity in full play how to make all my corrections distinct & legible.
Why do they not give one more room? –
I am much better today. My intellect will keep me alive; & active & merry into the bargain.
I verily believe I should be in a bad way but for my great objects. If I were in circumstances that permitted of my dwelling much or long on myself & my sensations, it would be a very unpromising business. But I have happily got fairly entrâinée [involved] now, into a course which leaves me little opportunity for mere self study & speculation; & which moreover gives me pressing motives to desire not only a mere continuance, but a highly active & efficient continuance, of life in this world for many more years to come. Science has thrown its’ net over me, & has fairly ensnared the fairy, in whatever she is.
Depend upon it that I here express a very remarkable & a very true truth. –
And I am quite certain that none is perhaps so capable of feeling the justice & reality of my own idea on the subject, as yourself. A.L.
At three tomorrow.
Poetical Science
Both Ada Lovelace and Charles Babbage would have been delighted with the application for the iPhone and iPad that was highlighted on Good Morning America on July 15, 2010. Ada’s intellect would keep her “active and merry” with Carlos McEvilly’s “Secret Ada.” It is what this book is about, the integration of imagination and science. The key is solving cryptograms, which is great fun.
iPhone and iPad Application
12
Working Like the Devil, A Fairy in Your Service
[1843]
Ada gave Wheatstone, who was working with Richard Taylor, the publisher of a scientific journal, her translation of L. F. Menabrea’s description of Babbage’s Analytical Engine, which was published in French in a Swiss journal in October 1842. According to Babbage’s recollection in his autobiography, Passages, many years after Ada’s death, he wrote: “Some time after the appearance of his memoir [article] on the subject in the Bibliothéque Universelle de Génève, the Countess of Lovelace informed me that she had translated the memoir of Menabrea. I asked why she had not herself written an original paper on the subject with which she was so intimately acquainted? To this Lady Lovelace replied that the thought had not occurred to her. I then suggested that she should add notes to Menabrea’s memoir: an idea which was immediately adopted.”
Babbage scribbled a note on 7 February 1843 stating that he had a meeting with Ada which was “under new circumstances.” On 15 February Babbage, along with Dr Kay-Shuttleworth, attended the marriage of Hester King to Sir George Craufurd. Ada then started to “work like the Devil” for Babbage.
Chapters 12, 13 and 14 contain Ada’s correspondence during the period that she was writing the Notes. These letters are compiled in large volumes at the British Library. At the time I transcribed them computers were not allowed so I had to hand-transcribe them. I got a real feeling for what was going on in Ada’s life, more than you could get from any book or Internet site.
Ada’s letters to Babbage reveal the process and the nature of their creative collaboration. Just as today, we collaborate a good deal of the time, often by e-mail, these literary remains give us a feeling for the nature of their collaboration, sometimes serious and often humorous. In the next three chapters I let Ada speak for herself so you hear her voice.
Chapter 15 contains excerpts from Ada’s Notes which, with the help of Colonel Rick Gross, have been annotated and related to the modern-day computer language named in her
honor.
Ada’s task was not easy because by the time Babbage died, he had filled over thirty volumes with plans for the Analytical Engine. Ada’s job was to synthesize his ideas in such a way that the British government and scientists would recognize the value of Babbage’s revolutionary invention. The publication, when completed, including Ada’s translation of Menabrea’s article and her Notes, was referred to as the Memoir. When Ada was finished with the Memoir, Babbage wanted to send it to Prince Albert, who had an interest in science. Babbage wanted to include a preface detailing the history of the British government’s non-support of his calculating engines.
Some biographers of Ada and Babbage call into question Ada’s contribution to the Notes, almost as if Babbage wrote them and Ada was merely his secretary. It is hard to understand why that question even arose. Babbage in his autobiography clearly stated that Ada wrote the Notes based on the material he gave her. It was a collaborative effort because it was a description of Babbage’s plans for an Analytical Engine. However, according to Babbage, Ada corrected a mathematical error that he had made. When Babbage tried to alter any of her Notes, Ada had something to say about his editing ability. The only help Babbage gave Ada, according to him, was in completing the table for the Bernoulli numbers as she was very ill at the time. The evidence in these letters written while Ada was writing the Notes does not jibe with Babbage’s memory many years later. Also, Ada made a mistake in the Bernoulli table, which today we would call a bug. Babbage did not detect or correct it.
Ada, the Enchantress of Numbers:Poetical Science Page 9
