Ada, the Enchantress of Numbers:Poetical Science

by Toole, Betty Alexandra

  From Note G, p. 722

  It is desirable to guard against the possibility of exaggerated ideas that might arise as to the powers of the Analytical Engine. In considering any new subject, there is frequently a tendency, first, to overrate what we find to be already interesting or remarkable; and, secondly, by a sort of natural reaction, to undervalue the true state of the case, when we do discover that our notions have surpassed those that were really tenable.

  The Analytical Engine has no pretensions whatever to originate any thing. It can do whatever we know how to order it to perform. It can follow analysis; but it has no power of anticipating any analytical relations or truths. Its province is to assist us in making available what we are already acquainted with. This it is calculated to effect primarily and chiefly of course, through its executive faculties; but it is likely to exert an indirect and reciprocal influence on science itself in another manner. For, in so distributing and combining the truths and the formula of analysis, that they may become most easily and rapidly amenable to the mechanical combinations of the engine, the relations and the nature of many subjects in that science are necessarily thrown into new lights, and more profoundly investigated. This is a decidedly indirect, and a somewhat speculative, consequence of such an invention. It is however pretty evident, on general principles, that in devising for mathematical truths a new form in which to record and throw themselves out for actual use, views are likely to be induced, which should again react on the more theoretical phase of the subject. There are in all extensions of human power, or additions to human knowledge, various collateral influences, beside the main and primary object attained.

  Babbage recognized her importance. After Ada’s death, he wrote to her son Byron:

  “In the memoir of Mr. Menabrea and still more in the excellent Notes appended by your mother you will find the only comprehensive view of the powers of the Anal. Engine which the mathematicians of the world have yet expressed.”

  He summarized his high regard for what Ada had done in Passages:

  We discussed together the various illustrations that might be introduced: I suggested several, but the selection was entirely her own. So also was the algebraic working out of the different problem, except indeed, that relating to the numbers of Bernoulli, which I had offered to do to save Lady Lovelace the trouble. This she sent back to me for an amendment, having detected a grave mistake which I had made in the process. . . These two memoirs taken together furnish, to those who are capable of understanding the reasoning a complete demonstration – That the whole of the developments and operations of analysis are now capable of being executed by machinery.

  As to the fate of the Analytical Engine, when Babbage wrote Passages in 1864, he expressed some optimism:

  If I survive some few years longer, the Analytical Engine will exist, and its work will afterward be spread over the world. . . Half a century may probably elapse before anyone without those aids which I leave behind me, will attempt so unpromising a task.

  It was over seventy years before a working computer was built. In 1991, the computer industry, both hardware and software, represented the third largest industry in the world. In I. Bernard Cohen’s excellent introduction to the 1990 revised A Computer Perspective, Background to the Computer Age, he states: “Even more astonishing may be the transition from minis to micros and the emergence of the computer as an all–purpose machine to serve such different purposes as industry, commerce and banking, as well as science and engineering. Hardly anyone in the early 1950’s and even later would have predicted that one and the same all–purpose machine would be designed and manufactured to serve efficiently both the needs of business and engineering.”

  Yet, Ada had the foresight in 1843 to envision the Analytical Engine fulfilling both a metaphysical scientific purpose and an analytical practical engineering purpose. Because of her contribution, she deserves her proper place in history as a “pioneer of computing.” In Pebbles to Computers, The Thread, Stafford Beer states his view of Ada’s contribution: “Augusta Ada, The Countess of Lovelace, was the poet Byron’s daughter—who understood perhaps better than Babbage himself, where all this . . . would finally lead.”

  In April 1992 Michael Swaine in Dr Dobbs Journal wrote: “Rigor and art, science and poetry: Human thought was being fiercely tugged at by these conflicting strains during Ada’s short life. And Ada’s life is a self-conscious archetype of this conflict and the synthesis that can grow out of it.”

  Poetical Science

  1. The first activity is simple. Ada asked “what if” questions. Take the latest devices, for example the mobile phone, and ask “what if” questions about what it could possibly do.

  2. How can I design a technological device so that it can fit my needs?

  3. How can I write a simple plan, like Ada did, a table of instructions, so that others could use the device?

  4. What about building an Analytical Engine? This blog might help http://blog.jgc.org/2010/09/its-time-to-build-analytical-engine.html

  Plaque on Ada’s home at St James’ Square

  16

  Fairy Guidance, My Metaphysical Child, Caged Bird

  [1843-1844]

  As soon as Ada received the Memoir, at the beginning of September 1843, she sent copies to various friends including Mrs Somerville, who praised Ada for her accomplishment. She sent three copies of her literary “grandchild’ to her mother and asked whether she could join Lady Byron on a trip to Clifton later in the month. Ada responded to Babbage’s letter of appreciation, and looked forward to his visit, and later in the month to a visit from Charles Wheatstone.

  To Charles Babbage

  Sunday, 10 September 1843

  My Dear Babbage. Your letter is charming, and Lord L – & I have smiled over it most approbatively. You must forgive me for showing it to him. It contains such simple, honest, unfeigned admiration for myself, that I could not resist giving him the pleasure of seeing it. I send you De Morgan’s kind & approving letter about my article. I never expected that he would view my crude young composition so favourably.

  You understand that I send you his letter in strictest confidence. He might perhaps not like you to see his remarks about the relative times of the invention of the two engines. I am going to inform him of my grounds of feeling satisfied of the literal correctness of my statement on that point. I cannot say how much his letter has pleased me.

  You are a brave man to give yourself wholly up to Fairy-Guidance! – I advise you to allow yourself to be unresistingly bewitched, neck, & crop, out & out, whole seas over, &c, &c, &c, by that curious little being!

  Ada received a letter at this time from John Kemble, a respected philologist and the editor of a philosophical review. According to his letter, there must have been a skirmish in the battle of the sexes. Ada was quite upset at how he had categorized women’s capabilities, and Kemble, being a gentleman, apologized for leaving the impression of undervaluing the intellectual capabilities of women. It is an attitude that many women are concerned about today, and Ada had tried to set him straight. What was her destiny? She discussed it with Babbage before he left and later wrote her mother.

  To Lady Byron

  Friday, 15 September [1843]

  Ashley [Combe]

  I was so amazed when I read the beginning of your letter this morning, at the absolute identity of the principle expressed in it, to that which I had expressed (tho’ in a different form) to you in my last, that I could not help exclaiming to Babbage “this is most extraordinary!” & relating to him the circumstance.

  There are however so many very remarkable circumstances that have occurred during the latter weeks and months, & which I cannot pretend to unravel, at present, but which something tells me I shall find the real clue to all in good time, that this merely adds one to their number. I am very much afraid as yet of exerting the powers I know I have over others, & the evidence of which I have certainly been most unwilling to admit, & in fact for a long time considered
to be quite fanciful & absurd. I am an utter novice at present, on the threshold of a new world; & I feel my best plan is to wait modestly & humbly for God to teach me, & not to anticipate that teaching, but rather to keep behind . . . Those powers are not ripe, & my habits & principles are still far too young, now, & green . . .

  I had better continue to be simply the High-Priestess of Babbage’s Engine, & serve my apprenticeship faithfully therein, before I fancy myself worthy to approach a step higher towards being the High Priestess of God Almighty Himself. And one has a fearful universe of habits to acquire. Many get habits first, & great principles afterwards. But here am I (who always did everything topsy-turvy, & certainly ought to have come into the world feet downwards) with principles highly & largely developped, but habits alas that are either nonexistent or positively bad, & (hardly a single good one).

  So one must drag one’s habits (however unwillingly), after & up to one’s principles, before one thinks oneself worth anything whatever. –

  By the way I am particularly ill at present. . . But the time will come, when all this will be very different . . .

  Tower at Ashley Combe

  William stayed at Ashley Combe tending to his many duties: fashioning the landscape, planting trees, and constantly building. He started digging tunnels under the house for the servants to walk in during bad weather, and he erected towers made of pink-colored bricks. Ada was concerned that he would be lonely and was delighted to hear he had a visit from Andrew Crosse, a Somerset neighbor, with his son. Crosse was an experimenter in electricity and had a reputation for being strange. William was so perturbed at how long it took both Crosse and his son to answer a question that he preferred not to have their company.

  Ada wanted to spend more time with William, to explore the countryside with him; however, William preferred spending time on his architectural pursuits. He was pleased that Ada was cheering up her mother. Both William and Lady Byron considered Ada “Our Bird” and believed they now had her firmly in their control. She was not quite sure what her intellectual destiny would be, or where her interests would take her. Ada searched for her own way but was constantly thwarted by her ill health. She took comfort in the development of her children, especially Annabella and wrote: “You cannot think how charmed I am with my metaphysical child, & how I have thought of her. If she will only be kind enough to be a metaphysician & a mathematician instead of a silly minikin dangling Miss in leading strings, I shall love her mind too much to care whether her body is male female or neuter.”

  When Mr Kraemer, Robert Noel’s suggestion, did not work out as a tutor, Lady Byron helped to select a proper tutor so that Ada would have time to devote to her profession. Dr William Carpenter was chosen to supervise the education of the children with the aid of a Miss Cooper and masters for singing, riding, etc. Carpenter was a Unitarian, a physician, and a professor who is credited with various written works on physiology and the unconscious mind. Lady Byron was supposed to be his guide. When Ada met Carpenter, she was flirtatious, but when Carpenter took the flirtation seriously and had difficulty in deciding whether or not to take the position, Ada specified the terms. There would be no nonsense.

  In early 1844, once Carpenter was in place, Ada’s views towards the children relaxed. Her attitude towards her husband and mother depended on the extent of pressure or support she received from them as well as her health. Wiiliam was offended by what he thought was her teasing, and she wrote that she had no intention of hurting his feelings. His response was silence, and she begged him to write just a few words. She admonished him to exercise her horses Jack and Tag Rag.

  One of Ada’s symptoms was that she was bloated. Dr Locock suggested “exercise, & laudanum (judiciously administered), in preference to another bleeding.” She felt the treatment was working and turned her attention to Miss Cooper, who seemed to have everything in order as far as the children’s education was concerned. William was helping out in the schoolroom. She admitted he was a different kind of master drilling the children “famously” but alas he was not too patient. He was very sharp with Annabella. Ada did not consider that he had a particularly enlightened or skillful method of instruction but she defended him. She considered it kind of him to give his time and on the whole he was an excellent master.

  By the summer of 1844 Ada faced major dental work suffering “paroxysms of pain.’” After the visits to the dentist, Dr Landzelle, she headed for Brighton hoping to get her health in order. Brighton became a favorite retreat for Ada. Yet, even at a distance, she tried hard to take care of family needs. Her letters to William were newsy and coaxing and described Brighton seaside adventures in 1844, complete with bathing costumes. She suggested to William that he build a swimming pool because “You know all caged Birds require a large saucer to dip into.”

  Poetical Science

  As Ada wrote the Notes she wondered what long-term impact she would have. She raised the gender issue to Kemble. Though women have moved into many fields today, like law and medicine, only a small percentage of women are involved in computer science. I am not sure of either the right questions to ask or the solution, but here are a few questions.

  1. What can women contribute in the field of computer science?

  2. How do we get more women, minorities etc. involved in computer science?

  3. How might the nature of computer science change if more women are involved?

  4. If these issues interest you, what can you do to help make computer science represent diverse approaches?

  I just received a wonderful story from the University of California at Berkeley’s School of Engineering: EECS Ph.D.s Ben and Juliet Rubinstein met at a national youth science forum in Australia. They attended the University of Melbourne together and then had the good fortune to land graduate school positions at Berkeley, entering in fall 2004. On May 16, 2010 Ben was hooded by faculty adviser Peter Bartlett, and Juliet was hooded by adviser Andy Neureuther. Ben will join Microsoft Research Silicon Valley this summer, and, in September, they are expecting a baby, one we hope will be a member of Berkeley Engineering’s Class of 2032. As Ada wrote: “be kind enough to be a metaphysician & a mathematician...I shall love her mind too much to care whether her body is male female or neuter.”

  17

  Planetary Systems, Not a Snail-Shell But a Molecular Laboratory,

  A Newton for the Molecular Universe

  [1844]

  Since Ada was constantly ill, she wondered about the influence of the mind over the body. Ada was being fed a constant dose of laudanum which did not please her mother. In the autumn of 1844 Lady Byron suggested that Ada read Harriet Martineau’s Letters on Mesmerism explaining how Mesmerism relieved her of the necessity for opiates and cured her cancerous tumors.

  She showed the treatise to Dr Locock and asked him for his opinion: It is fascinating that his conclusions were very similar to those of many physicians today. He did believe the state of mind of a patient had an impact on an illness, but was quite skeptical of clairvoyance, out-of-body experiences, and Mesmerism having an effect at a distance. He saw no evidence to support that belief. He was suspicious of patients willing to “gulp down marvels without philosophical evidence of their probability.” He believed Martineau’s article betrayed her basic ignorance of medicine and physiology. He concluded that he wholly disbelieved that any “organic disease ever had been or ever could be cured by Mesmerism “but the patient could be be benefited by its’ measures..” Locock gave Ada more drops of laudanum for her illness and she floated in and out of reality.

  At first Ada was open to consider the potential effects of Mesmerism but not in the way her mother expected. She was suspicious that she was Mesmerized when she performed the “shilling” experiment in 1841, trying to get a pendulum to move just by willing it to move. She went as far as to write that it was the foundation of all her problems. Perhaps though it could cure her problems as well.

  She then moved into outer space no doubt, under the influence of
laudanum. She created her own universe of slavery and freedom, of comets and planets, and even asked her mother to become a planet. Ada wondered why she had been created, was it just for her mother’s entertainment? She wrote many letters, like an excerpt from the following written 10 October 1844 where she headed into the cosmos, returned to earth to take care of her practical needs, and then orbited back into outer space.

  Ada wrote:”...I have been rather annoyed about Annabella, who has been in what I can graphically designate as a rampant state. . .the moment Annabella turns insolent, she excites in me the irresistible determination to annihilate her. I think this effect on me will be less the case perhaps, when she becomes of an age to be capable of feeling more the general weight of my character & influence. It is now an awkward period between baby stick law & the full force of grown-up motives. One is still obliged to appeal a good deal to the merely immediate.

  Well, from all this you see that Byron is now up, & Annabella is down. Ralph is in the neuter degree of my favor. –

  The weight of all my past inequities begins to press on me. I am not joking, & often I have to remember that a continued dwelling on regrets is loss of power & of time. I am sure that Scripture repentance is not such. What makes my difficulty is the too much freedom, that I wrote about yesterday.