Ada Byron Lovelace & the Thinking Machine
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Ada Lovelace, the daughter of the famous romantic poet, Lord Byron, develops her creativity through science and math. When she meets Charles Babbage, the inventor of the first mechanical computer, Ada understands the machine better than anyone else and writes the world's first computer program.
Ada Lovelace, the daughter of the famous romantic poet, Lord Byron, develops her creativity through science and math.
When she meets Charles Babbage, the inventor of the first mechanical computer, Ada understands the machine better than anyone else and writes the world’s first computer program in order to demonstrate its capabilities.
About the Author & Illustrator:
Laurie Wallmark has an MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from VCFA. When not writing, she teaches computer science at Raritan Valley Community College. She has two grown daughters and lives in New Jersey with her husband. You can find her online at www.lauriewallmark.com.
April Chu began her career as an architect with a degree from the University of California, Berkeley, but decided to return to her true passion of illustrating and storytelling. She remembers coming home from school every day, spending hours drawing whimsical characters in her notebook, and creating outlandish stories while watching cartoons, and she hasn’t stopped drawing and creating stories since. April lives and works in Oakland, California. Visit her online at www.aprilchu.com.
A Few Reviews:
“Although her father, the Romantic poet Lord Byron, was bewitched by language, it was numbers that captured Ada Byron Lovelace’s imagination. Raised by her mother, known as the ‘Princess of Parallelograms’ for her passion for geometry, young Ada filled journals with invention ideas, particularly a flying machine. When the measles left Ada blind and paralyzed for years, her mother kept her mind sharp with number problems. And, of course, Ada dreamed of her flying machine. A healthier, teenage Ada was tutored by the accomplished female mathematician Mary Fairfax Somerville, and she was introduced to Charles Babbage and his Difference Machine, a revolutionary calculator. Despite their age difference (she 17 and he 41), Ada was considered an equal, and Babbage asked for her help with his Analytical Engine, a mechanical computer. As she spent months creating an algorithm for the machine, she developed a new profession: computer programming. Soft, delicate yet detailed illustrations evoke Ada’s wonder and accomplishments, with a final spread depicting a spacecraft―a flying machine come true―running a computer language called Ada in her honor. Back matter offers more information on Ada’s life and the world’s first computer program. A beautiful tribute to this female computer pioneer.“― Booklist
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