Cosmonauts Exhibition - Science Museum, London 20 Feb 2016
Sputnik, Voshkod, Gagarin, Tereshkova, Laika, Soyuz - some mythical names from the Russian Space Program. For the first time, many Space related exhibits were being shown outside Russia. Always being interested in these things, I had a great 90 minutes or so looking and marvelling.
To celebrate the bicentenary of her birth, a small exhibition about this mainly unknown computing pioneer was on at the same time.
Ada Lovelace's father was Lord Byron who disappeared when she was very young.
Her mother pushed Ada towards her estranged father's most despised subject (Mathematics) and she excelled.
A contemporary of (but younger than) Charles Babbage whose Difference Engine was considered amazing at the time and is considered a precursor to the modern computer, Ada Lovelace did very detailed work with Babbage.
After meeting Charles Babbage at a lecture, Ada was encouraged to translate the only document about the Difference Engine, being an Italian engineer's notes. She added some notes of her own as she went along and came up with the concept of a Variable Module for the Difference Engine. This would allow conditional processing for results (if this value is this, do that otherwise do the other) . It was inspired initially by a Jacquard Fabric Loom which used a punched card system to direct the loom to produce it's patterns.
For a while, Charles Babbage and Ada Lovelace worked well together.
Being younger and having more drive than her mentor Babbage, Ada suggested that he attending to the publicity and lecturing about the Difference Engine and she would handle the research and development side of things.
Sadly, Charles Babbage did not like this idea and broke up their working partnership.
As is so often the case, the men writing the history books airbrushed Ada's brilliant contribution from the record.
More recently, Ada Lovelace's contribution has been acknowledged and she is now acknowledged as a pioneer of modern computing.
Ada Lovelace's father was Lord Byron who disappeared when she was very young.
Her mother pushed Ada towards her estranged father's most despised subject (Mathematics) and she excelled.
A contemporary of (but younger than) Charles Babbage whose Difference Engine was considered amazing at the time and is considered a precursor to the modern computer, Ada Lovelace did very detailed work with Babbage.
After meeting Charles Babbage at a lecture, Ada was encouraged to translate the only document about the Difference Engine, being an Italian engineer's notes. She added some notes of her own as she went along and came up with the concept of a Variable Module for the Difference Engine. This would allow conditional processing for results (if this value is this, do that otherwise do the other) . It was inspired initially by a Jacquard Fabric Loom which used a punched card system to direct the loom to produce it's patterns.
For a while, Charles Babbage and Ada Lovelace worked well together.
Being younger and having more drive than her mentor Babbage, Ada suggested that he attending to the publicity and lecturing about the Difference Engine and she would handle the research and development side of things.
Sadly, Charles Babbage did not like this idea and broke up their working partnership.
As is so often the case, the men writing the history books airbrushed Ada's brilliant contribution from the record.
More recently, Ada Lovelace's contribution has been acknowledged and she is now acknowledged as a pioneer of modern computing.
Note regarding the pictures:
I have taken these photos at the exhibitions.
If you would like to use any of them, please contact me.
(20 Feb 2016)
I have taken these photos at the exhibitions.
If you would like to use any of them, please contact me.
(20 Feb 2016)