Ada, the Enchantress of Numbers:Poetical Science
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2. Somerville Papers, Department of Special Collections, Bodleian Library, University of Oxford. The files used were SP 206, 355, 367, 369.
3. Babbage’s correspondence is found at the British Library, London. All letters from Ada to Babbage are quoted and can be found in: Additional MSS-37189: 281. Add MSS 37190: 386-7. Add MSS 37191: 87-8, 127, 134, 343-4, 532, 566-568, 572, 591, 632, 633-634, 691-2. Add MSS 37192: 75, 126, 129, 237, 278, 335, 337, 339, 342, 348, 349, 355, 357, 360, 362, 364, 370, 379, 382, 386, 388, 390, 393, 399, 401-3, 407, 414, 422, 429. Add MSS 37193: 132, 134, 176, 228, 232, 238, 239, 252, 257, 259, 263, 286, 287, 550. Add MSS 37194: 14, 176, 184, 196, 203, 207, 214, 230, 232, 237, 250, 252, 256, 309, 317, 334, 358, 361, 363, 415, 430, 438, 444, 532. An additional letter was from a private collector.
4. Wentworth Bequest, British Library, London.
Secondary Sources:
1. Scientific Memoirs, Selections from The Transactions of Foreign Academies and Learned Societies and from Foreign Journals Edited by Richard Taylor, F.S.A., Vol III London: 1843, Article XXIX. Sketch of the Analytical Engine Invented by Charles Babbage Esq. By L. F. Menabrea, of Turin, Officer of the Military Engineers. [From the Bibliothèque Universelle de Génève, No. 82, October 1842].
2. Additional letters are from an article written by Cornelia Crosse in the Argosy, November, 1869.
BOOKS ABOUT ADA LOVELACE, CHARLES BABBAGE, AND HISTORY OF COMPUTERS
Malcolm Elwin’s Lord Byron’s Family, John Murray, 1975, and Doris Langley Moore’s Ada, the Countess of Lovelace, John Murray, 1977, are good places to begin reading about Ada and her family. Velma and Harry Huskey’s article, Lady Lovelace and Charles Babbage, found in the Annals of the History of Computing, Volume 2, No. 4, October, 1980, is an excellent introduction. In 1985 MIT Press published Ada, Life and Legacy. This was followed in 1986 by Joan Baum’s The Calculating Passion of Ada Byron, published by Archon Books. She began the task of rectifying the new myth about Ada—that she did not write the Notes describing the Analytical Engine and was merely Babbage’s secretary. Benjamin Wooley’s The Bride of Science published in 1999 by MacMillan., has very little new material, but is a beautifully written book.
There are several biographies of Babbage; the best is Anthony Hyman’s Charles Babbage, Pioneer of the Computer, Oxford, 1982. Charles Babbage’s Passages from the Life of a Philosopher, his autobiography, published by Longman Green, 1864, is a gem, and the most important excerpts from Passages are found in Hyman’s biography of Babbage. Hyman’s Science & Reform: Selected Works of Charles Babbage, published by Cambridge University, 1991, explores the very sensitive and important relationship between scientific innovation and government. Pickering and Chatto, London, published in 1989 an 11-volume edition, The Works of Charles Babbage edited by Martin Campbell-Kelly which includes Babbage’s Passages and is found in many university libraries. The Science Museum in London had a major exhibition in 1991 to commemorate Babbage’s birth, and Doran Swade’s Charles Babbage and His Calculating Engines, a beautiful guide to the exhibit, is available from the Science Museum in London. In 2000 he wrote a biography of Charles Babbage, Cogwheel Brain. The best analysis of Ada’s contribution is Dubbey’s The Mathematical Work of Charles Babbage, Cambridge University Press, 1978. There are many books on the history of computing devices; two of the best are Engines of the Mind by Joel Shurkin, Norton, 1984, 1996 and Pebbles to Computers, The Thread, Oxford, 1986, beautifully photographed by Hans Blohm, written by Stafford Beer, and with an introduction by David Suzuki. Mark Frauenfelder’s The Computer:An Illustrated History published in 2007 is a gem. Three books highlight thinking skills in the computer age: Descartes’ Dream by Paul Davis and Reuben Hersh, Harcourt, Brace and Jovanovich, 1986, Electronic Life: How to Think About Computers by Michael Crichton, Ballantine Books, 1984; and Things That Make Us Smart: Defending Human Attributes in the Age of the Machine by Donald Norman, Addison-Wesley, 1993.
MEDIA REFERENCES ABOUT ADA LOVELACE, CHARLES BABBAGE AND HISTORY OF COMPUTERS.
You can obtain the latest information by performing a search. There are so many Google hits that here are just a few. At this time pictures of Ada can be found at the “Ada picture gallery,” http//www.cs.kuleuven.ac.be; check out the “Ada Project” at Yale University by going to http//www.cs yale and then follow the trail to the “Ada Project” and from there to “Women in History.” Another source highlights the issue that IEEE put out on “Women in Computing,” http//www.ieee.org/ieee-women. Check out Ada Lovelace Day and you will find thousands of blogs. Another popular site is http//www.alephi.clarke.edu. For Babbage, check out “The Babbage Pages” at http//www.ex.ac.uk/Babbage/
The best on you tube is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOKq85/QLWE.
BOOKS ABOUT LORD AND LADY BYRON.
There are so many. Start with Leslie Marchand’s Byron, A Portrait, published by John Murray, 1971. It is readily available in paperback as is Marchand’s Lord Byron, Selected Letters and Journals. My edition is Harvard Press, 1982. Malcolm Elwin’s Lord Byron’s Wife, Harcourt Brace, 1962, is a brilliant scholarly revelation of the duplicity of Lady Byron. Lady Longford’s biography of Byron is excellent. The many other books by Doris Langley Moore, Malcolm Elwin, Peter Quenell, and Michael Foot about Byron are also excellent. One of my favorite biographies, not easily available, is John Drinkwater’s The Pilgrim of Eternity, Hodder and Stoughton, 1925. Byron’s poetry and prose are found in most bookstores and libraries; consult those bibliographies for more references. An essential history of this period, from Lord Byron to Lady Anne Blunt, is Asa Briggs’s The Age of Improvement 1783-1867, Longman Paperback, 1979.
BOOKS ABOUT ADA’S DAUGHTER, ANNABELLA, LADY ANNE BLUNT.
Lady Longford’s biography of Annabella’s husband, Wilfrid Scawen Blunt, A Pilgrimage of Passion, published in paperback by Granada, 1979, is good reading. Part of that biography covers the journey they made without servants through Arabia on horseback. Lady Anne Blunt was one of the first European women to do so. She wrote and illustrated a chronicle of that journey, A Pilgrimage to Nejd, which was first published by John Murray in 1881 and now is reprinted in paperback and readily available in the travel section of most bookstores. Her journals, Lady Anne Blunt, Journals and Correspondence, 1878-1917, were edited by Rosemary Archer and James Fleming and published in 1986 by Alexander Heriot.
Appendix II
EPILOGUE AND BIOGRAPHIES
A short note about what happened to Ada’s family after she died. Lady Byron blamed Lord Lovelace for Ada’s gambling. Lord Lovelace and Lady Byron never spoke again, and their correspondence was through lawyers. Lord Lovelace remarried in 1865 and spent the rest of his life building towers and tunnels; Ashley Combe ended up looking like a toy fortification.
Byron, Lord Ockham, went back to sea, ended up deserting the Navy, and worked under an assumed name in a Liverpool shipyard. He died of consumption in 1862, two years after Lady Byron’s death. Ralph then inherited the Wentworth title, and took the name Milbanke (Lady Byron’s father’s name). He published Astarte, a book that was a selection of letters meant to defend his grandmother, but instead, for many intelligent readers, revealed hints of duplicity. Ralph considered all of his problems due to his mother and father. He was an avid mountain climber and had one daughter from his first marriage, who died without issue. It was Annabella who was responsible for carrying the family’s heritage forward. In 1869, at the age of 32, she married Wilfrid Scawen Blunt. They are credited with bringing the Arab horse to England and establishing the Crabbet Stud. Her life was so fascinating and complex that it is well worth reading the books about and by her. She had a long life and died in Cairo in 1917. Her only child, Judith, married Lord Lytton, and continued the family’s interest in horses and mathematics. She is reputed to have used a binary system to trace the lineage of racing horses. Her son, the late Lord Lytton, who died in 1985, was an eloquent writer. The current Earl of Lytton is Judith’s grandson, who, from the few letters I have received, carries
forward the family’s gift for writing excellent letters.
BABBAGE, Charles (1791 – 1871)
He was a widower, 42 years old, when he met Ada, a young woman of 17. Babbage’s many accomplishments include his ideas for the penny post, the oscillating light used by lighthouses, tables used by actuaries for decades, experiments with colored pages and print, etc. & etc. Babbage and De Morgan ended their friendship as a result of Lady Byron’s moving into Ada’s home and “taking over.”
BREWSTER, Sir David (1781 – 1868) Scottish physicist and natural philosopher noted for research into the polarization of light. He is generally credited with the invention of the kaleidoscope, which Ada collected, and so do I. According to Ada’s bank book, it was one of her last purchases.
CROSSE, Andrew (1784 – 1855) Englishman who performed experiments with electricity. He specialized in the field of electro-crystallization. He lived at Fyne Court, Somerset, about 20 miles from the Lovelace estate at Ashley Combe.
DE MORGAN, Augustus (1806 – 1871) British mathematician whose main field of study was logic. He spent much of his time writing about mathematics, philosophy and antiquarian matters. He was a professor at the University College, now part of the University of London. His letters to Babbage were filled with cryptograms. Their friendship ended when Ada died because his wife, Sophia Frend, was a staunch critic of Ada and defender of Lady Byron.
FARADAY, Michael (1791 – 1867) English chemist and physicist who discovered benzene and invented the dynamo. His most important work was in electricity and magnetism. He discovered electromagnetic induction, which led to the development of a simple electric motor and the first electric generator, and recognized that the energy in magnetism was in the space around the iron bar not in the bar itself. This theory (the Field Theory) was ridiculed, and Faraday died before it was respectfully proved by James Clerk Maxwell (1831-1879).
GAMLEN, Samuel (1783 – 1855) He matriculated at Oxford, Balliol College, 1805, and received his M.A. in 1811. He was the vicar at Bossall, Yorkshire, and in 1854 after Ada had died, Lady Byron appointed him the rector at Kirkby Mallory, at her estates in Leicestershire. Lady Byron appeared to like him, but did not want him too near Ada in 1852. Even though Ada, at one point, regarded him more highly than she regarded Babbage, and certainly as one of her closest friends, every biographer has mistaken his occupation and relationship to Ada.
GUICCIOLI, Countess Teresa (1799? – 1873) One year after marrying a wealthy but eccentric man, the countess met Lord Byron (April, 1819) and fell desperately in love with him in Venice. He became her “Cavalier Servente,” and, after the Pope granted her separation from her husband, Lord Byron continued in “the strictest adultery” with her (his words).
MELBOURNE, William Lamb, 2nd Viscount (1779 – 1848) British prime minister from July to November 1834 and from April 1835 to August 1841. He was Lady Byron’s first cousin and Queen Victoria’s chief advisor from April 1837. His mother was a confidante and close friend of Lord Byron’s and the sister of Lady Byron’s father. Caroline Lamb, William’s wife, further entwined these characters. She had had a celebrated affair with Lord Byron and most likely was the origin of the “incest rumour.” Lord Melbourne went to visit Lady Byron in January 1838, and whether his influence or William’s service in the Ionian Islands before he met Ada was the reason, William became an earl in June 1838. Babbage’s relationship with Melbourne is described in Anthony Hyman’s book.
MOORE, Thomas (1779 – 1852) One of Byron’s closest friends. In 1830, during the time that Lady Byron accused Ada of “conversational litigation,” Lady Byron was busy gathering arguments in opposition to Moore’s Life and Letters of Lord Byron, which portrayed Byron’s view of the separation.
MURRAY, John (1778 – 1843) The first John Murray founded a bookselling and publishing business in Fleet Street in 1768. His son, John Murray II, became one of the most prestigious publishers in London. His reputation was enhanced by the publication of Lord Byron’s Childe Harold and the poet’s succeeding works.
SOMERVILLE, Mary (1780 – 1872) Mrs Somerville’s scientific accomplishments are described in the narrative. What I find remarkable is her humanity and her understanding of the pressures Ada had to cope with. Mrs Somerville tried to get Ada to balance her life, to think of her own needs and health. Mrs Somerville was not explicit about Lady Byron until Ada was dying. She heard about Lady Byron’s behavior from her son, Woronzow Greig, and evidently wrote a letter criticizing Lady Byron’s possessive attitude. That letter does not remain; however, Lady Byron’s response was her typical self-justification, this time blaming “that widower,” meaning Babbage, for all of Ada’s problems.
WHEATSTONE, Sir Charles (1802 – 1875) English physicist, who, with W. F. Cooke (1806-1875), patented in 1837 the first electric telegraph.
Appendix III
Pathway to the 21st century: Questions for the reader
1. This story is filled with facts and fantasy. If there had been a “People” magazine in the 19th century, Ada, like her father, would have been on the cover. She has suffered the fate of many celebrities. Why? and who, initially, most likely skewed our perception of both Byron and Ada? How can you separate fact from fantasy?
2. As this book goes to press I decided to check out the rumors that are responsible for creating a new myth—that Ada was an incompetent mathematician and did not write the Notes. Who was the most reliable judge of Ada’s competence as a mathematician? What did he say? Who knew best whether Ada wrote those Notes in 1843? What was his evaluation of her contribution?
3. Did Ada write the first table of instructions, now termed “program” for a machine to calculate numbers without a human hand touching the machine? What evidence is there in this book to back that up?
4. The leitmotif of this book is the struggle between poetry and science—what Ada termed “Poetical Science.” Ada did not receive a traditional education. What skills did she develop as a child and teenager that later turned out to be very useful? Is it possible today to teach our children the same skills?
5. Was Babbage a speculator? Who was responsible for writing the prophetic comments about the computer age? What evidence backs that up? What did Ada see as the future of Babbage’s Analytical Engine in 1843? How is designing web sites today similar to what Ada predicted in 1843? How do you think Ada could be such a successful prophet?
6. Some of the many original works in which Ada is a character are Conceiving Ada, The Difference Engine, Arcadia, and the chapter “Ada” in Arthur C. Clarke’s The Ghost from the Grand Banks. How can we use the story of Ada’s life, both fantasy and facts, as a pathway to the 21st century?
7. Generate your own questions, for the questions are the most fascinating part of this story—they are Ada’s “what ifs?”
Illustrations
Scientific Trinity
1.
LORD BYRON, 1814, painted by J. Holmes, from Astarte, recorded by Ralph Milbanke, Earl of Lovelace, London, Chiswick Press, 1905, p.178.
ANNE ISABELLA MILBANKE, 1812, from a miniature by George Hayter, 21 July 1812, Ibid.p.85
2.
ADA, 1819, from a locket miniature, courtesy of John Murray.
LORD BYRON’S TABLET, at Hucknall Torkard Church, Illustrated London News, 10 September 1842.
HENSON’S AERIAL STEAM CARRIAGE, 1842-1843. Henson’s design for an “Aerial Steam Carriage,” from a History of Everyday Things in England, 1733-1851, Volume III, 1733-1851, written and illustrated by Marjorie and C.H.B. Quenell, courtesy of B.T. Batsford, London, 1963.
3.
GUITARPA, from Crystal Palace Exhibition Illustrated Catalogue by John Gloag, reprinted by Dover, 1978, p. 97.
CHARLES BABBAGE, 1833, courtesy of the Science Museum Library, London, Ref. No. 1983-1423.
4.
DIFFERENCE ENGINE, 1832, courtesy of Science Museum Library, Ref. No. 1862-89.
DUKE OF WELLINGTON, frontispiece from the Life and Times of the Late Duke of Wellington by Lieuten
ant- Colonel Williams, Volume 1, London Printing and Publishing Ltd.
5.
JACQUARD LOOM, op.cit.
ONE DORSET STREET, Painting by David Shapiro.
LEGO DIFFERENCE ENGINE. http://acarol.woz.org.
6.
ASHLEY COMBE, PORLOCK, B.A. Toole.
ADA, PAINTED BY MRS CARPENTER, 1835, Ada, Lady King, 1835, painted by Margaret Carpenter, courtesy of the Crown Copyright-National Physical Laboratory, Government Art Collection. Newsweek 22 December 2003.
ICOSAHEDRON, 20 faced polyhedron, computer simulations by Russell Reagan.
LEGO DINOSAUR, photo B.A. Toole.
7.
QUEEN VICTORIA, from Illustrated London News, May 1842.
ADA’S PORTRAIT BY CHLON, Ada, the Countess of Lovelace, part of series by A.E. Chalôn, circa 1838, courtesy of the Trustees of the British Museum.
LORD BYRON by THOMAS PHILIPS R.A., courtesy of The National Portrait Galley.
WHEATSTONE TELEGRAPH, Wheatstone and Cooke, Electric Telegraph, 1837, photograph from Social England by H.D.Traill and J.S. Mann, G.P. Putnam, 1909, p. 785.
FUTURITY courtesy of http://futuritythemusical.com
8.
SOLITAIRE BOARD ENGLAND 1833 for more information check http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peg_solitaire
AUGUSTUS DE MORGAN, photograph of the frontispiece of Memoir of Augustus De Morgan by Sophia Morgan, courtesy of Stanford University.
GRAPH OF A TRIGONOMETRIC EQUATION by Russell Reagan.
9.
SCIENTIFIC TRINITY, computer graphic by Russell Reagan.
12.
WHITWORTH COLLECTION, Science Museum, Oxford University