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| Ada Lovelace timetraveling, calculating the number pi. Sorry, Doctor Who still doesn't exist. Just like Christmas it's what you make of it. (Image 1843 Magazine) |
Me so Mistress Supreme bla bla bla. Don't make me laugh. It's a bit like referring to yourself as a stable genius. If people call you "The Enchantress of Number", you've got my instant attention. Now that's what I call a honorary title, so who is she?
When the Bank of England decided to put a scientist on the new £50 note, I knew it had to be Ada Lovelace. Meanwhile, the words "Bank of England" suddenly made me wonder why they call it Brexit. Successful scientists inevitably claim to stand on the shoulders of giants, but what if you an original one? Mrs. Lovelace is exactly that. Her accomplishments can easily be compared to for instance Eratosthenes, a Greek scholar of the third century BCE, who very accurately calculated the circumference of the earth. (He was of by a mere 0.16%, feel free to do a little jaw dropping.)
Imagine you're a genius stuck in a repressive 19th century universe because you're a woman. There is no escape, also not because Doctor Who doesn't really exist. Sorry. Now add to that a mother so concerned about your mental health, she arranges for teachers to keep you occupied. Nurturing the mind of a blossoming scientist just might keep away the madness that haunts dad. A less than perfect situation, I agree, but for Ada Lovelace such was her early life.
Despite all of that, she broke the mold and is honored to this day for her achievements. One such event is an annual day for young girls interested in computer sciences. Ada also has a computer language named after her. How did one woman manage to be so brilliant and so forgotten at the same time?
Perhaps the fact she was born the same year Napoleon lost the battle at Waterloo, has something to do with it, but I doubt it. As a young teenager she already showed considerable scientific promise. Unfortunately for her - and humanity - at the time universities were the exclusive domain of men. If you suddenly think of troglodytes dancing, don't worry, you're not alone.
Wanting to fly - don't we all - Ada studied the anatomy of birds and examined various kinds of materials that could help her. She summarized her conclusions in a book. From an early age she was taught mathematics by some of the greatest minds of her time and in her later teens her mathematical skill began to blossom.
These days she is perhaps best remembered as the first computer programmer. Charles Babbage designed the first mechanical computer and is considered the father of the computer. In 1842 Ada began translating notes from Italian discussing Babbage's analytical engine. On top of that she added lengthy comments, three times the number of pages the original article was. The translation itself was very demanding. Most scientists at the time didn't even grasp the basic concepts of the analytical machine. Ada Lovelace on the other hand did so with ease and expanded upon it. In one of the notes Ada discusses how Babbage's' machine - which at the time only existed on paper - could be used to calculate a complex mathematical sequence, called Bernoulli numbers. Many consider it the world's first computer program. Pretty impressive if you consider she wrote it around the time the first steam locomotives were being introduced. Even more impressive if you remember how the first computer to be ever built was over a century away.
OK, somebody had to write that first computer program. Some people shrug their shoulders and start talking of a giant cosmic tombola. Wrong. It's not just the raw talent, it's how you use it and under what circumstances. On top of that Ada Lovelace stands out for her original thinking. She was interested in metaphysics as a tool to explore the world around us. She also questioned some of the most basic assumptions by integrating poetry and science. It may sound like hocus pocus but then again 200 years ago people also considered female scientists to be blasphemy. Humanity can only hope that change equals progress.
Just when my mind was made up, I read about Noor Inayat Khan a British heroine of World War II, renowned for her service in the Special Operations Executive. Tomorrow, Boxing Day, I write about her.
PS
Meanwhile across the pond, the unstable Orange Pumpkin and his little friends are dragging their feet, putting Harriet Tubman, a former slave who helped others escape, on the $20 bill. Not really surprising given POTUS45's desire to undo the achievements of his more successful predecessor.I'm so not gonna joke about how in the real world orange is not the new black. Never.
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