Augusta Ada King, countess of Loveless

Mathematician, b. Lady Byron 10 December 1815 (Piccadilly Terrace [London], England), d. 29 November 1852 (Marylebone [London]).

Ada Byron was the daughter of the poet Lord Byron and his wife Annabella Milbanke Byron. Her parents separated two months after her birth. Her father then left England, and Ada never met him again. She was educated by private tutors but mainly taught herself and became an accomplished violinist. When she showed a gift for mathematics the first professor of mathematics at the University of London, Augustus de Morgan, gave her an opportunity for advanced studies. At the age of 19 she married Baron William King and became countess of Loveless when King was created an earl in 1838.

Ada Byron met Charles Babbage in 1833 at one of the regular parties Babbage held in his house, where the guests admired a dancing robot, one of the attractions of the Babbage household. A friend of Babbage later recalled:

"While other visitors gazed at the working of this beautiful instrument with the sort of expression, and I dare say the sort of feeling, that some savages are said to have shown on first seeing a looking glass or hearing a gun - if, indeed, they had as strong an idea of its marvellousness - Miss Byron, young as she was, understood its working, and saw the great beauty of the invention." (Shurkin, 1984)

When the 42 year old eccentric scientist and inventor mentioned his plans for an "analytical engine" to the 17 year old mathematician he unwittingly created a lifelong alliance. In a constant exchange of letters Ada King and Charles Babbage worked on the idea of the programmable computer.

In 1843 Ada Loveless translated Notions sur la machine analytique de Charles Babbage (1842; "Elements of Charles Babbage's Analytical Machine"), a description of its principles published by the Italian mathematician and engineer Luigi Federico Menabrea. More important than her translation were her detailed annotations in which she described the engine's workings and how it could be programmed to perform selected calculations. She summarized the ingenuity of the invention in the words

"The Analytical Engine weaves algebraic patterns, just as the Jacquard-loom weaves flowers and leaves."

Ada King's relationship with her mother was strained by her gambling and drinking and an affair with a notorious womanizer and gambler. When she developed uterine cancer her mother punished her by withholding the painkilling morphine. After two years of increasing agony Ada King died at the age of 36.

References

Augusta Ada King, countess of Loveless. Encyclopaedia Britannica 15th ed. (1995)

Shurkin, J. (1984) Engines of the Mind. W. W. Norton & Company, New York.

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