Journey Narratives Women in STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, Mathematics)

 

Augusta Ada Lovelace

“The more I study, the more insatiable do I feel my genius for it to be.”

In the early 19th century, when women's roles were confined to the domestic sphere, one woman dared to envision a future intertwined with technology and creativity. This is the story of Ada Lovelace, the world's first computer programmer who was instrumental towards the invention of the modern computer.

Born Augusta Ada Byron on December 10, 1815, in London England. Ada was the only legitimate child of the poet Lord Byron and his wife, Lady Anne Isabella Milbanke who was a courageous reformer believing in girls' education and founded the first industrial school in England. Ada’s father left the family and England just weeks after Ada’s birth. Ada never had the chance to meet her father. Her mother was determined to steer Ada away from her father's so-called poetic temperament that she described as moody and unpredictable nature. She ensured Ada received a steadfast rigorous education in mathematics and the sciences. At age seven her father wrote from Greece for a full report from ada’s mother of who the child had become. Her mother’s letter stated:

“Her prevailing characteristic is cheerfulness and good-temper. Observation. Not devoid of imagination, but it is chiefly exercised in connection with her mechanical ingenuity—the manufacture of ships and boats etc. Prefers prose to verse. . . Not very persevering. Draws well. Tall and robust.”

A reply letter from her father expressing gratitude for the report on his daughter never reached Ada or her mother. His reply letter was found unsent on his poet’s desk at the time of his death in 1824 when Ada was eight years old.

By age 12 Ada was trying to invent flying machines, writing to her mother, Ada proudly exclaimed, “As soon as I have got flying to perfection, I have got a scheme about a steam engine!”

Ada’s  flying machines were based on bird-flight with steam-powered machines. She studied the anatomy of birds calculating the proportions of their wings to their bodies. She created a book with her hand drawn prints based on her research and development called ‘Flyology’.

During this time, Ada dealt with illnesses where she became bedridden and used crutches to walk. Her mother continued to promote her daughter’s education which led to Ada being mentored and tutored by Mary Sommerville the renowned Scottish scientist, mathematician, and women suffragist.

Mary Sommerville was one of the best known scientists of the nineteenth century including having the forethought towards the discovery of Neptune. In 1833 Mary Sommerville introduced the 17 year-old Ada to the scientific community and Charles Babbage. Babbage was a mathematician and an inventor known as the 'father of the computer.’ He was working on the Difference Engine, a mechanical calculator, and later conceptualized the Analytical Engine, a more advanced machine capable of performing any mathematical calculation. Babbage referred to Ada as the “Enchantress of Number”.

Ada was captivated by Babbage's vision of a mechanical calculator. In 1842, she translated an article by Italian engineer Luigi Menabrea about the Analytical Engine from French to English. But Ada didn't stop there, she foresaw and dived deeper than the ideas of the time. Ada was more than 100 years ahead of her time! Ada envisioned the future by thinking beyond what was on the page and what was being thought about at the time. Ada wrote about the invention of a creative as well as general-purpose device. She thought of implications beyond just numbers or calculations. Her ideas were not stuck in the 1800’s. Ada’s own extensive notes were over 20,000 words, totaling three times longer than the original French article that only explained a mechanical calculator. In Ada’s notes, she described how the Analytical Engine could be programmed to calculate Bernoulli numbers. She also expanded on her original unique ideas of how a machine could execute multiple functions through coding. She called her work “poetical science” as she balanced the intricacies and rigorous mathematics with her creativity to imagine and demonstrate on paper how  machines in the future would be able to create. Effectively Ada had written the first algorithm intended for a machine—a monumental step in the history of computing and her ideas led the pathway for universal computation!

Ada's foresight extended beyond mere computation. Ada wanted to develop the Analytical Engine to be able to weave algebraic patterns just as the Jacquard loom that was invented in early 1800 weaves flowers and leaves. The loom used a punch card with holes representing pretty much a binary system of off or on. She went beyond calculation as she wrote about applications for the Analytical Engine in areas like music and art. Ada envisioned that machines could one day compose complex pieces of music and create visual art. We can ask ourselves was Ada anticipating concepts of artificial intelligence, machine language learning, and creative computing? Ada was a STEAM (Science Technology Engineering Art Mathematics) innovator!

Ada wrote, 'Supposing that the fundamental relations of pitched sounds in the science of harmony and of musical composition were susceptible of such expression and adaptations, the engine might compose elaborate and scientific pieces of music of any degree of complexity or extent.'"

Ada Lovelace's life was brief; she died at the age of 36 on November 27, 1852, in Marylebone, London. During her last days her friend Charles Dickens (1812 - 1870) who had a copy of her writing on the Analytical Engine read to her at her request from his novel ‘Dombey and Son’. The novel is about a shipping company owner who longs for a son to follow in his footsteps, rejecting his daughter and her love for so much of their lives only to eventually reconcile with his daughter. One must wonder if that story spoke many truths to Ada due to her father’s rejection of her throughout her life.

Ada's work was ‘rediscovered’ in the work of Alan Turing in 1930’s and then in 1950’s books and articles. Research of Ada’s writings and letters which are mostly held at the British Library and Bodleian Library can bring greater insight and recognition to one of the many ‘silenced’ women who shaped the betterment of the world. Newly found correspondence tell of her inquiries about acoustics and on climate. There can be much disinformation when simply searching online for quick information about Ada or any of the many women shaping our ‘herstory’. This article has done its due diligence to be based on research and facts from books, writings, and her own letters. We have many women’s discoveries yet to discover. Societal biases and gender discrimination has and continues to keep women silenced and unrecognized as well as erased from building a better world.

Ada’s legacy impacts today’s world as a visionary who envisioned the potential of machines beyond mere calculation endures. Today, Ada Lovelace Day is celebrated annually on the second Tuesday of October, honoring her contributions and aiming to raise the profile of women in science, technology, engineering, art, and mathematics.

Ada was known for her humor, kindness, quickness to forgive and carry on through the harshness of life situations. Ada Lovelace — a woman ahead of her time, whose imagination and brilliance laid the groundwork for the STEAM age we live in today.

Written by: Jozi Anderson & Brianna A. Hunter