Ada Lovelace 200!

It’s Ada Lovelace’s 200th birthday! I’ve spent the last couple of days at the truly extraordinary concatenation of gigantic intellects, Byron scholars and mathematics professors, computer scientists and composers, that was the Oxford Ada Lovelace Symposium. A fuller report to come when I’ve recovered from all the emotions and the Balliol dinner but you can watch my own talk at the 1 hour mark here:

All the talks from the symposium can be viewed online– my own favourite was the wonderful Richard Holmes’ beautiful tribute, starting at the 40 minute mark:

I can announce on this day as well that The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage has been honoured with the British Society of Mathematics Neumann Prize for general-audience book on mathematics history! It’s difficult to express how much this recognition and generosity mean to me. Also I can now win any argument with my husband on any subject by simply pointing out that I am the British Society for the History of Mathematics Neumann Prize winner.

A couple of Adas for her birthday and I am jonesing to draw some comics..
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9 Comments

  1. chicgeek on December 21, 2015 at 12:42 am

    Huzzah! A well deserved honor!

  2. Hugh Fisher on December 14, 2015 at 2:35 pm

    If you haven’t already done so, read Stephen Wolfram’s blog post about Ada Lovelace, Charles Babbage, Difference and Analytical Engines.
    http://blog.stephenwolfram.com/2015/12/untangling-the-tale-of-ada-lovelace/

  3. Roberto Keller on December 14, 2015 at 12:03 pm

    Loved your talk. Very humorous and informative.

  4. JamesPadraicR on December 13, 2015 at 6:40 pm

    Fun Talk! In case you haven’t seen this: from Bruce Sterling (yes that one), pictures of an Italian computer museum with something familiar.
    https://www.flickr.com/photos/brucesterling/sets/72157659980546833
    I’d really like a print of that Analytical Engine diagram.

  5. Scott on December 11, 2015 at 5:40 pm

    “I am jonesing to draw some comics”
    DRAW ALL THE COMICS!

    Huge congratulations for receiving this well-deserved recognition, Sydney!

  6. Ann on December 11, 2015 at 3:47 am

    Fantastic presentation, Sydney, and congratulations on the award! My kids and I are reading the book together!

  7. Brian on December 10, 2015 at 11:46 pm

    The left-hand Ada image looks like a Major Arcana tarot card! What is she doing with her hands?

    Hm, a Lovelace-and-Babbage tarot deck would be an interesting thing.

  8. Subbak on December 10, 2015 at 11:25 pm

    What do you mean, only the prize for best general-audience book on mathematics history? How did they not award you the prize for bets book ever in the history of the universe?

  9. Martin on December 10, 2015 at 10:01 pm

    Congrats on the award! Well done!

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