Ada Lovelace : the making of a computer scientist / Christopher Hollings, Ursula Martin & Adrian Rice.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Hollings, Christopher, 1982- author.

Martin, Ursula, 1953- author.

Rice, Adrian C. (Adrian Clifford), 1970- author.

Contributor:

Samuel W. Golden Book Fund.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Computer programming.

History.

Women computer programmers.

Women in computer science.

Women mathematicians.

Great Britain.

Lovelace, Ada King, Countess of, 1815-1852.

Lovelace, Ada King.

Women mathematicians--Biography.

Women in computer science--Biography.

Women computer programmers--Biography.

Computer programming--History.

Mathematicians.

Genre:

Biographies.

History.

Physical Description:

xiii, 114 pages : illustrations (some color) ; 22 cm

Place of Publication:

Oxford : Bodleian Library, 2018.

Summary:

Ada, Countess of Lovelace (1815-1852), daughter of romantic poet Lord Byron and his highly educated wife, Anne Isabella, is sometimes called the world's first computer programmer and has become an icon for women in technology. But how did a young woman in the nineteenth century, without access to formal school or university education, acquire the knowledge and expertise to become a pioneer of computer science? Although an unusual pursuit for women at the time, Ada Lovelace studied science and mathematics from a young age. This book uses previously unpublished archival material to explore her precocious childhood, from her ideas for a steam-powered flying horse to penetrating questions about the science of rainbows. A remarkable correspondence course with the eminent mathematician Augustus De Morgan shows her developing into a gifted, perceptive and knowledgeable mathematician. Active in Victorian London's social and scientific elite alongside Mary Somerville, Michael Faraday and Charles Dickens, Ada Lovelace became fascinated by the computing machines devised by Charles Babbage. The table of mathematical formulae sometimes called the `first programme' occurs in her paper about his most ambitious invention, his unbuilt `Analytical Engine'.0Ada Lovelace died at just thirty-six, but her paper still strikes a chord to this day, with clear explanations of the principles of computing, and broader ideas on computer music and artificial intelligence now realised in modern digital computers. Featuring images of the `first programme' and Lovelace's correspondence, alongside mathematical models, and contemporary illustrations, this book shows how Ada Lovelace, with astonishing prescience, explored key mathematical questions to understand the principles behind modern computing.

Contents:

1 Ada Lovelace and the advancement of science p. 1

2 A mathematical childhood p. 9

3 Early influences p. 23

4 Charles Babbage and the thinking machine p. 37

5 Learning mathematics with Professor De Morgan p. 49

6 Becoming a mathematician p. 61

7 The Analytical Engine p. 73

8 Mathematical puzzles and speculations p. 89

9 The final years p. 99.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 109) and index.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Samuel W. Golden Book Fund.

ISBN:

9781851244881

1851244883

OCLC:

1007310334