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.
Discussion
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.