Google Blog, December 10, 2012
Last year,
a group of us were lucky enough to visit the U.K. Prime Minister’s residence at
10 Downing Street, as part of the Silicon Valley Comes to the U.K. initiative.
While there, we asked about some of the paintings on the wall. When we got to a
large portrait of a regally dressed woman, our host said “and of course, that’s
Lady Lovelace.” So much of world history leaves out or minimizes the
contributions of women, and so “of course” most of us had no idea who she was.
You can imagine our surprise when we learned she was considered by some to be
the world’s first computer programmer—having published the first algorithm
intended for use on Charles Babbage’s Analytical Engine.
 |
| Lady Ada Lovelace, painted by Margaret Carpenter in 1836, from the U.K. Government Art Collection. Photo thanks to Wikimedia Commons. |
Augusta Ada King, Countess of Lovelace, was born nearly two centuries ago in 1815. Her
mother, mathematician Anne Isabelle Milbanke, was determined Ada would not fall
prey to the same immoralities as Ada’s father, the “mad, bad and dangerous to
know” poet Lord Byron. Thus, in an attempt to thwart any similar tendencies,
she had Ada tutored in science and mathematics from a young age. It’s fair to
say this did not completely work, as Ada went on to lead a rather colourful life. However it did fortuitously result in Ada becoming a mathematician like
her mother, and pursuing what she termed “poetical science.”
After a
chance encounter when aged 17, Ada became friends with Charles Babbage and grew
fascinated by his idea to build an “Analytical Engine.” In 1843 Ada published a description of Babbage's machine. While partly a translation of an Italian
work, Ada added voluminous self-penned notes, which made up the bulk of the
document. Included in her notes were step-by-step instructions for how the
machine could calculate a sequence of Bernoulli numbers, prepared in
collaboration with Babbage. In effect, this was the world’s first published algorithm.
Most
importantly, the notes set out Ada's far-reaching vision for what the
Analytical Engine signified. While Babbage saw it as a mathematical calculator,
Ada understood it had much more potential. She realised it was, in essence, a
machine that could manipulate symbols in accordance with defined rules,
and—crucially—that there was no reason the symbols had to represent only
numbers and equations.
“The
Analytical Engine weaves algebraic patterns just as the Jacquard loom weaves
flowers and leaves.” Ada Lovelace, 1843
As Ada
eloquently argued, such a device could do far more than mathematics. She even
mused about its potential to compose music:
“Supposing,
for instance, that the fundamental relations of pitched sounds in the science
of harmony and of musical composition were susceptible of such expression and
adaptations, the engine might compose elaborate and scientific pieces of music
of any degree of complexity or extent.”
This was an
astounding conceptual leap from calculation to computing. Ada envisaged a day
when a single machine would be capable of a myriad of tasks, limited only by
the creativity of its programmer. At the time—nearly a century before the first
computers were built—it was a flash of brilliance.
After our
visit to Downing Street, we returned to the U.S. determined to learn more about
Ada, and to revive her memory. Today, her birthday, is an apt moment. In
addition to this post, Google is honouring Ada with a doodle in recognition of
her prophetic vision for computing.
 |
| Design of doodle by Kevin Laughlin |
Unfortunately,
Babbage's machines were never built in his lifetime, and Ada's vision of
computing was lost to obscurity for more than a century. It wasn’t until 1991
that the Science Museum London built Babbage’s Difference Engine from his
original drawings. That machine is now on show there, and a second one is now
at the Computer History Museum in California. Plans are now afoot to build a
replica of the Analytic Engine—so perhaps Ada’s algorithm will at last be run
on the machine for which it was intended.
Ada's
experience is sadly all too familiar. Too often, the contributions of women in
science and technology are left untold, and to fade from view. While Ada’s
story has been rediscovered, many others remain little known. That's why
initiatives such as Ada Lovelace Day are so valuable, as a catalyst for raising
the profile of women in science, past and present. Several wonderful
biographies of Ada have been written already, and biographer Walter Isaacson
has turned his attention to Ada as part of his next book.
Visibility
is also the reason why we launched the Women Techmakers series on GDL, to help
shine a light on the roles and contributions of the many talented technical
women in our industry today. We hope our series will complement other efforts
to raise the profile of women, such as the new AOL/PBS supported website and
documentary Makers.com or the work of Academy Award-winning actress Geena Davis
on SeeJane to improve gender balance and reduce stereotypes in childrens’
television globally.
We hope today's
doodle inspires people to find out more about Ada, and about the contributions
made by women in general to science and technology.
Posted by
Megan Smith, VP, Google[x] and Lynette Webb, Senior Manager, External Relations
No comments:
Post a Comment