Finding Ada

Today is/was Ada Lovelace Day. For those that do not know, Ada was Lord Byron’s daughter who married a man called Lovelace and lived in East Horsley, where we lived happily for a time. She is pretty much universally accepted as the first computer programmer. She worked closely with Charles Babbage on his mathematical machine which was the first computer. Interestingly, the machine is featured in a book put out by the Science Museum but the entry, while raving about Babbage, does not mention Ada. This is not so amazing as she wasn’t credited for a long time but, eventually, her name was honoured by having a software programme named after her. It is the one used for air traffic control systems.

She was an amazing woman but died relatively young. I wonder what she could have achieved had she lived to a grand old age.

Anyway, the thing about Ada Day is that people are supposed to blog about a woman scientist who has inspired (or inspires) you. I’m going to choose Mary Beard, Head of Classics at Cambridge.

I saw her speak at the archaeology conference and have read a lot of her work. I admire her greatly. She makes the ancient world seem very real. She is an excellent speaker and writer. I read her blog every time she makes an entry.

So…happy Ada Day and salutations to Professor Beard.

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The poodles finally had their winter coats removed today. When they returned from Kate’s they had been halved in size! They are so cute.

Here’s what they looked like before they went:

A wee bit like sheep

and here they are after:

Now more like lambs