CBS Sunday Morning
last week reminded me of something I learned in computer programming class in
college: the first computer programmer, and in fact, the first person to think
of a multi-purpose computer, was a woman: Ada Lovelace, mathematician and
daughter of the notorious poet and scoundrel, Lord Byron.
Now, when I was reminded of this fact, I immediately thought
I knew how this had happened. I figured Lord Byron has invited his daughter to
an evening of debauchery with his hedonist friends, but she demurred, saying
she wanted to work on something. And so Lord Byron said: “Oh, you’re going to
go play with your numbers again, nerd?” And Ada said: “Oh, go smoke some more
opium, why don’t you, you libertine?”
(It is often the case that children rebel against their
parents and do the opposite with their lives, like a mathematician might have a
wastrel child, or a hedonist might have a very straight-laced hard-worker, or
an alcoholic might have a puritanical prohibitionist, just as a natural
rebellion, or due to life lessons learned.)
As it happened, however, Ada Lovelace didn’t grow up with
nor did she really know her father, who died shortly after her birth; and it
was her mother who wanted to be sure she steered clear of the hedonistic poetry
crowd. But she had her father’s brilliance, and applied to another arena of
human interest, she basically invented the punch-card computer: brilliant!
