PhilosophersAda Lovelace
Ada Lovelace
She described Babbage's Analytical Engine, saw that it could handle more than numbers, and set the limit it does not cross: it originates nothing.
Analytic philosophy1815 · 1852 United KingdomLondon
Life
Ada Lovelace (1815-1852), a British mathematician and the daughter of the poet Lord Byron, worked with Charles Babbage on his Analytical Engine. In 1843 she translated an article by Menabrea and added notes longer than the text, including a method for computing Bernoulli numbers, often regarded as one of the first computer programs. She saw that the machine might handle more than numbers, yet that it originates nothing by itself.
Main works
1843
Notes to Menabrea's Sketch of the Analytical Engine
Describes the Analytical Engine, her program for Bernoulli numbers, and the machine's limit: it originates nothing.
In his own words
« The Analytical Engine has no pretensions whatever to originate anything. It can do whatever we know how to order it to perform. »
« We may say most aptly, that the Analytical Engine weaves algebraical patterns just as the Jacquard-loom weaves flowers and leaves. »