The Science Museum in London is celebrating the bicentenary of the birth of pioneering computer scientist Ada Lovelace with an exhibition of her life and mathematical work.
Lovelace, daughter of Lord Byron, was the first to grasp the implications of Charles Babbage’s analytical engine – a precursor to the modern computer. But, partly because she was a woman, she was ignored in her lifetime.
The museum is also displaying originals of her letters from the collections of the British Library and the Bodleian Library, which follow her relationships with Babbage, Michael Faraday, and others.
The exhibition runs until March and is reviewed this month in the journal Science.
Further reading: Ada Lovelace, prophet of the computer age
Originally published by Cosmos as Ada Lovelace remembered
Bill Condie
Bill Condie is a science journalist based in Adelaide, Australia.
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