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Dreaming in Code: Ada Byron Lovelace, Computer Pioneer - Paperback | Diverse Reads

Dreaming in Code: Ada Byron Lovelace, Computer Pioneer

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“Written with grace and intelligence, researched with care. . . . Sure to inspire a new generation of pioneers.” —Shelf Awareness (starred review)

This illuminating biography reveals how the daughter of Lord Byron, Britain’s most infamous Romantic poet, became the world’s first computer programmer.

Even by 1800s standards, Ada Byron Lovelace had an unusual upbringing. Her strict mother worked hard at cultivating her own role as the long-suffering ex-wife of bad-boy poet Lord Byron while raising Ada in isolation. Tutored by the brightest minds, Ada developed a hunger for mental puzzles, mathematical conundrums, and scientific discovery that kept pace with the breathtaking advances of the industrial and social revolutions taking place in Europe. At seventeen, Ada met eccentric inventor Charles Babbage, a kindred spirit. Their ensuing collaborations resulted in ideas and concepts that presaged computer programming by almost two hundred years, and Ada Lovelace is now recognized as a pioneer and prophet of the information age. Award-winning author Emily Arnold McCully opens the window on a peculiar and singular intellect, shaped — and hampered — by history, social norms, and family dysfunction. The result is a portrait that is at once remarkable and fascinating, tragic and triumphant.

ISBN-13: 9781536228236

Media Type: Paperback

Publisher: Candlewick Press

Publication Date: 11-08-2022

Pages: 176

Product Dimensions: 6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.47(d)

Age Range: 12 - 14 Years

Emily Arnold McCully is the author and/or illustrator of many picture books, novels, and nonfiction books for children and young adults, including the Caldecott Medal–winning picture book biography Mirette on the High Wireand Ida M. Tarbell: The Woman Who Challenged Big Business — and Won!, which was a Washington Post Best Children's Book of the Year and a finalist for the YALSA Best Nonfiction Book of the Year. Among her favorite topics to write about are brave girls and women. She lives in New York.

Table of Contents

Introduction ix

Part 1 1816-1824 1

Chapter 1 Born into Scandal 3

Chapter 2 Mother and Child with Governesses 8

Chapter 3 She Has a Father 17

Part 2 1825-1832 23

Chapter 4 Her Imagination Soars 25

Chapter 5 Guarded by Furies 31

Chapter 6 An Elopement 34

Part 3 1833-1835 39

Chapter 7 Meeting Babbage 41

Chapter 8 A Role Model 50

Chapter 9 Courtship and Marriage 55

Part 4 1836-1842 59

Chapter 10 Motherhood 61

Chapter 11 Grasping for Mathematics 67

Chapter 12 The New Engine 72

Chapter 13 A Restless Student 78

Part 5 1842-1852 83

Chapter 14 Masterwork 85

Chapter 15 At Loose Ends 98

Chapter 16 Restless Spirit 101

Chapter 17 An Awful Death 112

Epilogue 119

Afterword 125

Appendix A Ada's Notes 127

Appendix B The British Association for the Advancement of Science Declines to Construct an Analytical Engine 133

Source Notes 136

Glossary 150

Bibliography 154

Image Credits 158

Index 160