Ada Lovelace: A Life from Beginning to End

by Hourly History

Discover the remarkable life of Ada Lovelace... Free BONUS Inside! As the sole legitimate child of Lord Byron, Ada Lovelace was the progeny of literary royalty. Many might have naturally expected her to go into the field of her father, but instead of delving into poetry, she delved into the hard sciences of mathematics and analytic thinking. Even so, Ada still had the imagination of a lyricist when writing scientific treatises, at times referring to her own work as nothing short of “poetical science.” Everything she did, she did with passion and dogged determination. It was this drive that led Ada to look farther and search deeper than her contemporaries. Her unique vision led her to become one of the pioneers of the modern computer and one of the world’s first computer programmers. But what exactly do we know about Ada Lovelace, and how can it be quantified? Read this book to find out more about the nineteenth-century mathematician and writer Augusta Ada King, Countess of Lovelace. Discover a plethora of topics such as The Daughter of Lord and Lady Byron Early Years of Paralysis The World’s First Computer Programmer Rumors and Laudanum Addiction A Grim Prognosis Last Days and Death And much more!So if you want a concise and informative book on Ada Lovelace, simply scroll up and click the "Buy now" button for instant access!

Genres: History, Biography, Nonfiction, Mathematics, Ebooks

95 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 17, 2019

About the author

At Hourly History, we focus on publishing history books that are concise, straightforward and take no longer than one hour to read.

Receive our new eBooks for free every Friday.
Sign up at: www.hourlyhistory.com/free

Reviews

[David Parker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ada’s Loves labor’s lost

Very interesting woman new very little about her except that is a computer language named after her. Tragic end for her family.

[Tracy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Maybe it's because I read it first, but Ada's real life kind of reminds me of Lucy in a "The Ladies Guide to Celestial Mechanics." Lucy loved astronomy while Ada loved math and mechanics. Both became famous for translating someone else's work with such flare and personality they made it better. But maybe because she was fictional I liked Lucy better. LOL! I guess sometimes fiction really does reflect real life.

Ada Lovelace was the only legitimate child of the poet Lord Byron and his wife Lady Byron. She was an English mathematician and writer, who worked with Charles Babbage on his mechanical computer, the Analytical Engine. She was the first person to really recognize that the machine might be able to do more than just calculations, and published the first algorithm intended to be carried out by such a machine. As a result, she is sometimes regarded as the first to recognize the full potential of a "computing machine" and one of the first computer programmers.

Sadly it seems like as with many creative intelligent women in history there maybe some questions about her actual contribution. I'm so glad Ada will be remembered for her forward looking contributions to the development of computers and programming.

"The Ladies Guide to Celestial Mechanics." set me on a quest to learn more about these fascinating women in history. Ada is one of those women many of us may never have heard of and I am so grateful I discovered.

[Jerry Jares · Rating 5 out of 5]

Augusta Ada King, the Countess of Lovelace, was the only legitimate child of Lord and Lady Byron.  Since Lord and Lady Byron separated when Ada was 5 weeks old (and he left England forever four months later), father and child would never have a relationship.  Because of Lady Byron's grief over the ending of her marriage, she was never emotionally close to her daughter.  Ada seems to have been raised mostly by Lady Byron's mother, Judith.

Ada's early teen years were marred by a form of paralysis, after a bout of measles.  By the age of 16, however, she started to recover.  When Ada had some sort of a dalliance with a tutor, Ada's mom worried that Ada would become a degenerate (like her father) and pushed Ada into her studies, especially mathematics and physics.  Interestingly, Ada's mother was a math whiz.

From this short study of Ada's life, it is easy to see that she got flamboyance from her father.  It looks like she was often bored by life's mundaneness.  Ada's association with Charles Babbage wasn't as close as I had thought from other reading.  However, she did understand exactly what he was trying to do.  It is a shame that Ada had such a short time to explore the world of science.  She died much too soon; she was 36 at the time of her death.

[James Crawford · Rating 4 out of 5]

What caused me to read this particular book was a recent episode of Doctor Who where the Doctor went back in time and met Babbage, the man generally given credit for the invention of the computer (a very early version, of course.) Ada Lovelace was a woman with a brilliant mind, especially when it came to math and science, and she worked with him and came up with the idea of using ones and zeros which is still the basis of computers today.

She also came up with the idea of punch cards (which, thankfully, are something of a bygone era).

Unfortunately she had various problems including some several health issues, an addition to laudanum (a supposed medicine that had alcohol and opium, both) and a gambling problem.

If she had lived longer and in good health I am sure that she would have made advances in various fields. The book is a good examination of her life.

[Neera Kapahi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ada Lovelace was the daughter of the famous and colorful poet Lord Byron. Although her formative years were tumultuous, she was remarkable in many ways. She was a mathematician and some have referred to her as the first computer programmer even though her efforts were not widely recognized till about a hundred years after her passing. It was interesting to know that she valued metaphysics and believed that intuition and imagination were important in applying scientific concepts.

[Thomas Mihalchick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating story

It's interesting to note that her father's infamy both worked for and against her. Had she not been Lord Byron's daughter, would she have been recognized as a mathematical prodigy? It's sad that she wasn't recognized more in her lifetime, but then again, she was a century ahead of her time. Google or Apple should name one of their operating systems after her.

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderfully informative book. Hourly history books are a quick read, but pack with interesting facts Ada Lovelace was definitely a Pioneer of computer technology!I

I highly recommend reading all the hourly history books. It's amazing what can be learned in such a small time frame.

[Estifanos · Rating 3 out of 5]

𝐀 𝐆𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐮𝐬 𝐰𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐚 𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐠𝐚𝐦𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐚𝐛𝐢𝐭
𝑀𝑎𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑙 𝑎𝑏𝑖𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑠𝑒𝑒𝑚𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑏𝑒 𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑟𝑎𝑛 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑓𝑎𝑚𝑖𝑙𝑦. 𝐴𝑑𝑎’𝑠 𝑚𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑎 𝑏𝑖𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑎 𝑚𝑎𝑡ℎ 𝑤ℎ𝑖𝑧, 𝑒𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑐𝑖𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑖𝑡 𝑐𝑎𝑚𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑔𝑒𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑡𝑟𝑦, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑎𝑡 𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑠ℎ𝑒 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑛 ℎ𝑎𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑛𝑖𝑐𝑘𝑛𝑎𝑚𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 “𝑃𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑐𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑃𝑎𝑟𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑙𝑜𝑔𝑟𝑎𝑚𝑠.”

I got to know quite a bit about one of the very first tech visionaries.

3.5⭐

[Andrew J. · Rating 5 out of 5]

THE,FIRST LADY OF THE COMPUTER AGE

A very well told story of an amazing woman. Ada was very human, complex and fruitful in her short life. Its tragic elements resemble those of her father, Lord Byron. A short book, but worth the price and time to read about her association with Charles Babbage and the beginnings of our Computer Age.

[Bob · Rating 5 out of 5]

Enlightening

After reading this I have new appreciation for Ada Lovelace. I had a vague understanding of her life and accomplishments in an academic sense before reading, and a much better understanding afterwards.

[Molly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow!!!

Fascinating, unique and interesting. I cannot think of three better words to describe this tale. It would be interesting to have her life made into film, as the life of Alan Turing was.

[Leon Olivier, Jr · Rating 3 out of 5]

Disappointing

This book focuses to much on her negative behavior and not enough on the science. If you are interested in scandal you will enjoy this book. If you want science look elsewhere.

[Travis · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn't know anything about Ada L0velace, so this book was a nice, short introduction to a fascinating woman.

[Noelia Dasilva Freire · Rating 5 out of 5]

Short biography about the life and the scientific contributions of Ada Lovelace.

[Robin Dix · Rating 4 out of 5]

A woman born in the wrong time. Truly innovative.

[Mike Sanders · Rating 5 out of 5]

Does what it claims well and fully - though I would not have minded a little more self awareness of the views taken

[Jeremy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Extra insight to an often overlooked person of note