A Female Genius: How Ada Lovelace Started the Computer Age - Softcover

Essinger, James

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1908096667 ISBN 13: 9781908096661

Publisher: Gibson Square Books Ltd, 2013

Synopsis

Ada Lovelace, Lord Byron's only legitimate daughter, was rediscovered in the 1930s by pioneers such as Alan Turing, who invented the world's first computer. Four decades on, Ada, a widely-used scientific computer programme, would be named after her. A Female Genius tells the remarkable story of her life, how she overcame the obstacles in her way; her background, her over-bearing mother, her ill health and being a woman in the male-dominated 19th century. It also tells the story how the computer age could have started almost two centuries ago, in 1840s London. Ada Lovelace was the only one who understood this, despite opposition that the principles of science were 'beyond the strength of a woman's physical power of application'. She, for example, wrote the world's first computer programme and foresaw that computers could create music. There are still some who believe she is 'overrated' - the reason why James Essinger researched this book.

About this title

About the Author

James Essinger read English at Lincoln College, (University of Oxford) and lives in Canterbury. While researching his previous book, Jacquard's Web: How a Hand-loom Led to the Birth of the Information Age (OUP 2004), he became interested in the relationship between Ada Lovelace and Charles Babbage, inventor of the world's first mechanical computer.

Edition details

• Publisher: Gibson Square Books Ltd
• Publication date: 2013
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1908096667
• ISBN 13: 9781908096661
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 288