Angela Quarles talks about the Genius of Ada Lovelace

Becky Lower and Jewelry!!! James Mc Intyre talks about Hessians ...

Angela Quarles talks about the Genius of Ada Lovelace

Hi, all! I’m thrilled to have historical fiction author Angela Quarles on my blog, talking about the wonderful woman, Ada Lovelace. Here’s a bit of music while you peruse. And now here’s Angela!

A Brief Look at Mathematician and Visionary Ada Lovelace

A major secondary character in my debut novel Must Love Breeches is Ada Lovelace, though in the book, she’s not yet married, so she’s known as Ada Byron. Since this blog is geared to history, I thought it apt to share a little bit about this fascinating woman. I purposely picked 1834 as the year my heroine time travels to so she could meet Lady Lovelace when she was still single (and known as Miss Byron).

So, who was she?

She was the only legitimate child of Lord Byron, the famous English poet a former lover called ‘mad, bad, and dangerous to know.’ However, she is famous in her own right, as she’s credited as being the world’s first computer programmer. In fact, the United States Defense Department named their new computer language, unveiled back in 1980, ADA.

Born in 1815, she had a genius for mathematics, and when she first saw Charles Babbage’s Difference Engine, she immediately grasped its implications. Babbage later scrapped that project and began work on the Analytical Engine, which was a mechanical computer that, if it had been completed, would have ushered in the computer age almost 100 years early. We have to remember that back then, computers as a concept weren’t something easily understood, and most just didn’t get it when Babbage showed off his prototype to potential investors. But Ada did. She even saw beyond the number crunching into a more poetical way of speculating on its use:

[The Analytical Engine] might act upon other things besides number, were objects found whose mutual fundamental relations could be expressed by those of the abstract science of operations, and which should be also susceptible of adaptations to the action of the operating notation and mechanism of the engine…

Supposing, for instance, that the fundamental relations of pitched sounds in the science of harmony and of musical composition were susceptible of such expression and adaptations, the engine might compose elaborate and scientific pieces of music of any degree of complexity or extent [http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn22385-ada-lovelace-my-brain-is-more-than-merely-mortal.html]

Wow. Just wow. I mean, seriously, how ahead of her time was she? Unfortunately, her life was rather tragic. Her mother, obsessed that Ada would “catch” Lord Byron’s “madness,” kept her on a very strict educational regimen and pretty much made Ada believe she could become mentally ill. She was also not a very nurturing mother figure. In addition, Ada’s life was cut short at the age of 36 by cancer. In Must Love Breeches, I imagined she had escaped a lot of her mother’s tyranny and successfully fought her cancer and lived longer.

But during her short life, she formed a lifelong friendship with Charles Babbage, who called her the Enchantress of Numbers. In 1842, Babbage gave a lecture in Turin on the Analytical Engine which was written up in French. Ada was asked to translate it into English, and she took it a step further and added her own section called “Notes” which was longer than the original paper. It was in these notes, that she wrote up an algorithm that could run through the engine to compute Bernoulli numbers, which experts have said would have worked if Babbage had completed the mechanical computer. It is for this reason that she’s credited as the world’s first computer programmer.

Want to really understand the power and importance of Lovelace and Babbage’s work? Watch this great video giving the background and also plans to build the Analytical Engine.

http://youtu.be/4rzAL5YwFow

Want even more? Here’s a delightful peek at some of the letters she wrote to Michael Faraday.

Ada Lovelace today

Steampunk lovers know her as one of the character’s in William Gibson and Bruce Sterling’s alternate history novel The Difference Engine, where Charles Babbage finishes his invention and the computer age is ushered in much earlier. But she was also totally ‘steampunk’ in her own lifetime– she actually, as a child, tried to invent a steam-powered horse! She had her scientific pen pals send her dead birds so she could measure wing span to body mass. I’m not making this up.

Besides The Difference Engine, she’s also a main character in this novel: Lord Byron’s Novel: The Evening Land (P.S.). I came across this at a library sale, talk about serendipity! It’s an imagined novel of Byron’s but set within two different story frames: one, present day emails of a researcher who has ‘discovered’ this lost novel, and then, ‘notes and letters’ written by Ada about her attempts to recover the novel and hide it from her mother.

She’s a main character of a webcomic by Sydney Padua called 2D Goggles, or The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage. In 2012, they announced the comics will finally be in book form, and just this month said it was close to being done, with a projected release date of April 2015. They also have a Lovelace & Babbage app for the iPad.

Homage to Lady Lovelace through the ages from Tor.com’s artist Scott Brandage

Other Random Facts:

· Lady Lovelace made The Guardian’s list: The Guardian’s Open 20: fighters for internet freedom

· Initially it was reported that Steve Job’s biographer will write Lady Lovelace’s biography next (which I was doing a happy dance about), but then it was reported that it will be about the history of digital information and so she will only be how the book opens.

· In the weird department, she got a giant tunnel boring machine named after her in the UK

· During the SOPA battle, she got a nice shout out from HuffPo: SOPA Blackout: Why Wikipedia Needs Women

· The Guardian did an article called Game changers: the women who make video games which had a shout out to Lady Lovelace at the end

· A group of scientists will soon be starting a ten-year project to construct Babbage’s Analytical Engine

· In 2012, Google did a Google Doodle for her 197th birthday.

And coming up next month is the official Ada Lovelace Day, which this year falls on Tuesday, October 14. To learn more about the events going on that day around the world to celebrate women in science, visit Finding Ada.

Thank you for having me on here!

It’s been a blast to have you here, Angela! And here’s some info about her and her book!

Blurb

She’s finally met the man of her dreams. There’s only one problem: he lives in a different century.

“A fresh, charming new voice” – New York Times bestselling author Tessa Dare

HOW FAR WOULD YOU TRAVEL FOR LOVE?

A mysterious artifact zaps Isabelle Rochon to pre-Victorian England, but before she understands the card case’s significance a thief steals it. Now she must find the artifact, navigate the pitfalls of a stiffly polite London, keep her time-traveling origins a secret, and resist her growing attraction to Lord Montagu, the Vicious Viscount so hot, he curls her toes.

To Lord Montagu nothing makes more sense than keeping his distance from the strange but lovely Colonial. However, when his scheme for revenge reaches a stalemate, he convinces Isabelle to masquerade as his fiancée. What he did not bargain on is being drawn to her intellectually as well as physically.

Lord Montagu’s now constant presence overthrows her equilibrium and her common sense. Isabelle thought all she wanted was to return home, but as passion flares between them, she must decide when her true home—as well as her heart—lies.

Excerpt

A reenactment ball was the perfect setting for romance. Or not.

Isabelle Rochon fidgeted in her oddly-shaped-but-oh-so-accurate ball gown, surrounded by women who’d sacrificed historical authenticity for sex appeal. Red carpet ball gowns in the nineteenth century, really? Once again she was like the dorky kid participating in dress-up day at school when everyone else had magically decided it was lame.

“Gah. I feel like a green robot with strange battle armor.” Isabelle pointed to her dark green dress, the shoulders flaring out almost to a point, exaggerating their width. “What were the fashionistas in 1834 thinking?”

“I have no bloody idea.” Jocelyn squeezed the poof of fabric at her shoulder. “These huge-ass sleeves are ridiculous.”

“Ah, screw it, we’re having fun, right? I’m not going to self-sabotage the ball. Not after all the time I spent obsessing over my costume.”

“And obsessing over the etiquette rules.”

“That too.” Besides, how fun was it to learn Jocelyn shared her obsession with guys in period clothes and bodice-ripper romances?

Isabelle eyed a guy strolling past in tight-fitting, buff-colored pantaloons. She pitched her voice to be heard over the string quartet. “Hmm. How about the clothes on that daring derriere?”

Jocelyn sucked on her olive and plopped the empty stir stick into her martini. “Oh, yes. Definitely a breech-ripper.”

Isabelle choked on her Bellini, the champagne fizz tickling her throat and nose. This was the first opportunity they’d had to socialize outside work, so she treated this moment delicately, afraid to puncture the mood. No need to point out he sported pantaloons, not breeches.

She should ease up on the drink, though. She didn’t want to get plastered at the Thirty-fourth Annual Prancing Through History Reenactment Ball. Especially since her new colleagues would be around. And her boss. She needed to impress him.

“Look lively,” Jocelyn said, her voice low, with a dollop of teasing. “Here comes the office hottie.”

She’d been cultivating a mild crush on Andrew since starting her new job at the British Museum six months ago. The whole situation was perfect. A guy in the same field would respect her interests, wouldn’t expect her to give up her profession for a relationship. He was safe. If it worked out, great, if not, no biggie. She was happy, finally, with how her life was working out.

She’d pictured him in period clothing before, looking resplendent.

He did.

“Hi, Andrew.” Her voice came out a little too high. Jeez, could she sound any more like a lovesick fool? She always did this around gorgeous men—went ga-ga as if she couldn’t rub two brain cells together. She gazed around the Duke of Chelmsford’s newly renovated ballroom and pretended as if her breath hadn’t quickened and her body hadn’t heated at the sight of Andrew.

“Hello, Isabelle. Jocelyn.” Andrew nodded. His smile felt like a gift for her alone.

Her pulse throbbed. He’d sought her out. Play it cool. Say something witty. “So, uh, having fun yet?” Having fun yet?

Something, or someone, in the crowd hogged his attention. She followed his gaze until she found it. Or rather him. Their boss at the bar.

Andrew faced her and the remnants of calculation on his hot-as-heck features disappeared behind his over-bright grin.

He leaned closer.

The artificial tang of his cologne drifted her way. She wrinkled her nose.

“Well done on the Whittaker exhibit. Finding that journal was a bit of a coup. It’ll be a fine addition to the exhibit, once it’s built.”

He’d noticed. She’d worked damn hard. “Thank you.” Why couldn’t Brits find her Southern accent as sexy as she found theirs?

“Glad you came across the pond to work with us. That find should put you in the running for the promotion.”

Good. The promotion would mean she could stay in London. Well, it would make staying easier. No matter what, she was determined to remain.

“Of course, you’ll have to beat me out.”

Cold clarity hit her stomach like accidentally gulping a glass of iced gin instead of iced water, jolting her from her usual foray into Incoherent Land around attractive guys. “You’re applying too?” Of course he was.

“Without a doubt. Career changer and all. I’m a shoo-in. Sure you still want to apply?”

Could she scrub the smug look off his face? She settled for the less satisfactory, but more controlled, “Yes.”

Now catching her boss’s attention was more important than ever. Besides wanting to escape into another era, she’d also hoped her costume would impress him. She glanced at the wet bar. Drat. Where had her boss gone?

Andrew slipped his hand around her elbow, pulling her closer. “How about we ditch this party and grab a pint? You and me.” He ignored Jocelyn, who stared back and forth between them.

It all made sense—his sudden interest after dismissing her for months, the calculation she’d caught when he’d turned back—he thought he’d intimidate and charm her into giving up the position.

She yanked her arm free, saying, “Fat chance, you smarmy horndog,” which cut through the room because, of course, the music had just ended.

Jocelyn snorted her drink, eyes watering, and coughed, fighting to catch her breath. For a moment, her coughing was the only sound punctuating the silence.

The curious eyes of the onlookers made Isabelle feel as if a huge moat had sprung up around her. The moat of Beware, All Ye Who Enter—Idiot in the Center. If one of those eyes were her boss…

Andrew trotted out his grin, the one that used to make her insides hum. “Thought we had a connection. No?” He backed away, hands up, eyes locked with hers in a you’re-such-a-fool stare, his heels snapping on the marble floor with each backward step. “Cheers, then, babe. May the best man win.” He nodded and sauntered off.

Jocelyn, bless her, completely ignored the Moat of Embarrassment and stepped to Isabelle’s side. “How had we never noticed what an ass he was?”

“Probably because we were too busy drooling?”

“There is that.”

“Seriously, I should just go pound my head against the nearest vertical object and repeat one hundred times, ‘When will I learn?’”

“Just be careful not to poke out your eye with those lethal shoulder sleeves.”

“Ha.” But Jocelyn’s dry humor softened Isabelle’s mood. “Can’t believe he expects me to just roll over. I have to get the promotion, I need the security. No way am I going to sacrifice my dream to be with a guy, I don’t care how hot he is.”

Never again would she let a jerk encased in good-looking skin influence her life. Been there. Done that. Have the gold-stitched Fool’s cap.

Book Links

Amazon (universal): http://bit.ly/MustLoveBreeches

Kobo: http://bit.ly/MLBkobo

ARe: http://bit.ly/1rXAZmw

iTunes: http://bit.ly/1rXKylc

Google Play: http://bit.ly/MLBGoogle

Nook: http://bit.ly/1AVWtFh

Goodreads: http://bit.ly/MLBGR

Must Love Breeches board on Pinterest: http://bit.ly/1qCPKcy

Official Book Page: http://bit.ly/MLBBook

Bio

Angela Quarles is a geek girl romance writer whose works includes Must Love Breeches, a time travel romance, and Beer & Groping in Las Vegas, a geek romantic comedy in novelette form. She has a B.A. in Anthropology and International Studies with a minor in German from Emory University, and a Masters in Heritage Preservation from Georgia State University. She currently resides in a historic house in the beautiful and quirky town of Mobile, AL.