In one of her letters Ada documents a comprehensive understanding and explanation of the Bernoulli numbers these form part of the algorithm used even today to programme a computer. While Charles Babbage tried to get their work recognised, it was not until after they both had died, that the significance of her writings was realised. She never got to see the results of her work as she died at 36 years of age. Afterwards, Ada wrote a clear exposition on this machine. Their work, which has been well documented in a trail of letters, developed into the Analytical Engine (a machine that could not only calculate numbers but process information). Over the next few years, Ada was encouraged, by her husband and Babbage, to teach mathematics and help develop the idea of the Difference Engine. It was the sketches and writings of the Difference Engine that Ada saw and ignited her interest. He named this machine the Difference Engine. Babbage believed it was possible to build a machine create values and calculate results – removing human error. Her mother enforced a strict education so as not to follow the fanciful route of her father.Īt age 17, Ada met Charles Babbage a Cambridge mathematician. Her parents were Annabella Milbanke and famed poet Lord Byron. A quick life of AdaĪda Bryon, as she was called, was born in 1815 into high society London. If you want to find out and understand her relevance to the debate today, read on. Yet, she was vital to the history of computers and, only now are we starting to appreciate and celebrate her enormous contribution to the modern world. In some ways, it is fitting for what she represents – a mathematician, an early pioneer of computer science. If you are like me, you may have seen a Google Doodle about her in the past, but really, you may not know anything about her. In our blog for Ada Lovelace Day, Becky Franklin finds out more about the 'enchantress of numbers' and why we need more female pioneers like her.
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