Ada Lovelace (1815–1852) was the daughter of Lord Byron, a poet, and Anna Isabella Milbanke, a mathematician. Her parents separated when she was young, and her mother insisted on a logic-focused education, rejecting Byron’s mad love of poetry.
But Ada remained fascinated with her father and considered mathematics poetical science. Via her friendship with inventor Charles Babbage, she became involved in programming his Analytical Engine, a precursor to the computer, thus becoming the world’s first computer programmer.
This biography of Ada Lovelace is a compelling portrait of a woman who saw the potential for numbers to make art.
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“Narrator Rosalyn Landor’s gentle British inflection brings authenticity to the story of Ada Lovelace…Landor’s elocution is as precise as Lovelace’s brain as inventors of the times enlist her assistance. Landor’s enthusiasm comes though especially well in the sequence of Ada describing how an algorithm is like a treasure hunt. The production’s background music complements the story, especially the machine-like passage that echo the Industrial Revolution sweeping across England.”
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