Nostr

good morning uncle bob. I was just thinking today i've not seen your notes of late. Regards to your daughter and grandsons and hope you have a great week with the family. Babbage and Ada must be fun to write! I was reading on Elizebeth Smith Friedman recently, first women cryptologist. She must have been been quite a genius to evolve with tech and impress all levels of security and gov'ts at a time where women workforce was unheard off in the early 1900s

unclebobmartin 2y ago

Hi Pam,

The story of Ada of Lovelace is quite a bit more checkered than the cursory popular stories suggest. She had a really crappy father (Lord Byron) who abandoned her as an infant. She apparently suffered from bouts of mannic behavior, and died at 36 of cervical cancer. Her involvement with the documentation of Babbage's Analytical Engine was intense; but it was by no means a solo effort. She and Babbage collaborated significantly on that report. It's not really clear how much she wrote, and how much Babbage wrote and/or editted.

It's a fascinating story that I'm afraid to say may not align perfectly with today's politically correct narrative.

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pam 2y ago

There are a few things that fascinated me about her - one is that her dad was a poet, not analytical. Then again, math is filled with assumptions and patterns, poetic its own ways. And the other is that women were only admitted to universities in the mid 1800s, hence I'd reckon she had personal tutors or picked up a lot of things on her own. I recall she had a bit of a wild and eccentric life, Vegas would have loved her (or not!). Thank you for sharing, uncle Bob. I enjoyed reading it.

unclebobmartin 2y ago

Pam,

Her father was indeed a Poet, one of Britain's finest. He was also a scoundrel who married for money, was violent with his wife, drunken, constantly in debt, and a horrible womanizer. He had several illegitimate children including one with his half-sister. He was, at the time in Victoria's England, infamous.

Ada's mother, Annabella was a math whiz. Byron derided her by calling her his "Princess of Parallellograms". Annabella decided early on to keep Ada away from poetry. She feared that her father's insanity would infect he daughter. So Ada was tutored in math from a very young age.

This worked out well in the end. Indeed one of her later tutors, recommended by Babbage, was none other than Augustus De Morgan. But the early tutoring wasn't always about math. At 17 Ada had an affair with one of her tutors. This was discovered and quickly covered up. Victorian society was a voracious rumor mill, and the daugher of the infamous Byron was always under scrutiny.