Ada Lovelace

1
Ada Lovelace

• By Allison Shook

2
Childhood

• Born December 10, 1815
• Only legitimate child of George Gordon, Lord
  Byron
• Mother, Anne Isabella Milbanke, took her from
  home at one month old never saw father again
• Designed flying machine 1828

3
Adulthood

• Met Charles Babbage in 1833
• Difference Engine
• Mechanical device to compute values of quadratic
  functions
• Analytical Engine
• Used punched cards to read instructions and
  data for solving mathematical problems
• Studied with Augustus de Moyan in 1840
• University of London

4
Adulthood Continued

• Married William King in 1835
• 3 children
• Became countess of Lovelace
• Addiction to Rx drugs
• Laudanum, opium, morphine
• Died of uterine cancer, November 27, 1852

5
Mathematician and Computer Pioneer

• Translated and added notes to Italian article
  describing Babbages Analytical Engine
• Additions showed
• How Analytical Engine would work
• Set of instructions
• Calculating Bernoulli numbers
• Initials A.A.L.

6
Mathematician and Computer Pioneer

• Notes republished in 1953
• Engine recognized model for computer
• Notes description computer and software
• Anticipate future developments
• including computer-generated music
• 1980 U.S. D.O.D. Ada new std computer language

7
Fun Facts

• On the math-mystery cartoon, Cyberchase, she
  appears as the animated character Lady Ada
  Lovelace, voiced by Saturday Night Live comedian
  Jane Curtin
• Main character in alternate history Steampunk
  novel The Difference Engine by Bruce Sterling and
  William Gibson
• World where Babbages machines are mass produced
  and computer age started a century early
• Image of her seen on Microsoft product
  authenticity hologram stickers

8
References

• http//womenshistory.about.com/cs/sciencemath1/a/b
  io_lovelace.htm
• www.sdsc.edu/ScienceWomen/lovelace.html
• http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ada_Lovelace