Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
The names Charles Babbage and Ada Lovelace are synonymous with pioneering computer science and engineering, their work on the Analytical Engine shifting paradigms and sparking the advent of the computer age in which our society is now based. The one seemingly a stereotypically repressed Englishman, while the other would become an early feminist icon. Without Ada there would have been no Charles, and it is through their ever-strengthening friendship that history was made. James Essinger tells the fascinating story of the gradually intensifying friendship that formed between Charles and Ada, interweaving it with tales of their outstanding professional collaboration. Using personal letters to and from the duo, the true feelings behind their unique friendship are revealed for the first time, adding personality, warmth and passion to the partnership that changed the world.
Synopsis
The partnership of Charles Babbage and Ada Lovelace was one that would change science forever. They were an unlikely pair - one the professor son of a banker, the other the only child of an acclaimed poet and a social-reforming mathematician - but perhaps that is why their work was so revolutionary.They were the pioneers of computer science, creating plans for what could have been the first computer. They each saw things the other did not: it may have been Charles who designed the machines, but it was Ada who could see their potential.But what were they like? And how did they work together? Using previously unpublished correspondence between them, Charles and Ada explores the relationship between two remarkable people who shared dreams far ahead of their time.