Ada's Algorithm: How Lord Byron's Daughter Ada Lovelace Launched the Digital Age

Essinger, James

ISBN 10: 1612194575 / ISBN 13: 9781612194578

Published by Melville House, 2015

Book is considered to be in good or better condition. The actual cover image may not match the stock photo. Hard cover books may show signs of wear on the spine, cover or dust jacket. Paperback book may show signs of wear on spine or cover as well as having a slight bend, curve or creasing to it. Book should have minimal to no writing inside and no highlighting. Pages should be free of tears or creasing. Stickers should not be present on cover or elsewhere, and any CD or DVD expected with the book is included. Book is not a former library copy. Seller Inventory # SEWV.1612194575.G

Synopsis:

“[Ada Lovelace], like Steve Jobs, stands at the intersection of arts and technology."—Walter Isaacson, author of The Innovators

Over 150 years after her death, a widely-used scientific computer program was named “Ada,” after Ada Lovelace, the only legitimate daughter of the eighteenth century’s version of a rock star, Lord Byron. Why?

Because, after computer pioneers such as Alan Turing began to rediscover her, it slowly became apparent that she had been a key but overlooked figure in the invention of the computer.

In Ada Lovelace, James Essinger makes the case that the computer age could have started two centuries ago if Lovelace’s contemporaries had recognized her research and fully grasped its implications.

It’s a remarkable tale, starting with the outrageous behavior of her father, which made Ada instantly famous upon birth. Ada would go on to overcome numerous obstacles to obtain a level of education typically forbidden to women of her day. She would eventually join forces with Charles Babbage, generally credited with inventing the computer, although as Essinger makes clear, Babbage couldn’t have done it without Lovelace. Indeed, Lovelace wrote what is today considered the world’s first computer program—despite opposition that the principles of science were “beyond the strength of a woman’s physical power of application.”

Based on ten years of research and filled with fascinating characters and observations of the period, not to mention numerous illustrations, Essinger tells Ada’s fascinating story in unprecedented detail to absorbing and inspiring effect.

About the Author: JAMES ESSINGER is a writer with a particular interest in the history of ideas that have had a practical impact on the modern world. His previous book, Jacquard’s Web: How a Hand-Loom Led to the Birth of the Information Age (2004), was chosen as one of the top 5 popular science books of the year by the Economist.

Bibliographic Details

Title: Ada's Algorithm: How Lord Byron's Daughter ...
Publisher: Melville House
Publication Date: 2015
Binding: Soft cover
Condition: good