The Bride of Science: Romance, Reason, and Byron's Daughter [Paperback]

Benjamin Woolley (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1, 2002 | ISBN-10: 0071388605 | ISBN-13: 978-0071388603 | Edition: 1st

Published by Macmillan in the U.K. and by us in the U.S. in hardcover to critical acclaim, The Bride of Science tells the story of Ada Byron, Lady Lovelace, the inventor of computer programming and daughter of Romantic poet Lord Byron. Ada's story is that of a woman who came to embody the separation of two worlds: the world of Romanticism and the world of science and machines. Ada's efforts to reconcile these opposites - to create what she came to call a "poetical science" - produced one of the most remarkable careers of the Victorian age. In collaboration with Charles Babbage, the inventor of a clockwork "thinking machine" that predated the computer by over a century, Ada wrote a plan to use the machine for the calculation of Bernoulli numbers. This plan is now regarded as the first computer program, making Ada the world's first computer programmer. It was in her honor that, in 1980, the U.S. Department of Defense named its computer language "Ada." Ada has been iconised as a woman whose contribution to technology has been hidden. That contribution is now revealed in the first comprehensive biography of Lady Lovelace. The Bride of Science is not only a brilliant examination of an extraordinary life in math and science, it is also a fascinating analysis of the death of Romanticism and the birth of the machine age, offering devastating insight into the seemingly unbridgeable gulf between art and science, the consequences of which are still with us today.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

First published in the United Kingdom in 1999, this is an entertaining biography of Augusta Ada Byron Lovelace, daughter of the renowned poet Lord Byron. Separated from Lord Byron shortly after Ada's birth, Lady Bryon raised her daughter in a strange and thoroughly controlled manner, limiting her access to both people and intellectual pursuits in order to keep Ada from developing any of the shortcomings she might have inherited from her father. As a result, Ada, who suffered from a variety of legitimate health problems, also developed serious psychological problems. As directed by her mother, Ada's educational focus was on science, and her relationship with Charles Babbage and the work she did in explaining and interpreting his Analytical Engine and Difference Machine, a precursor of the computer, were the culmination of her mathematical and technical studies. A fine study of Ada, this book is as much about her mother, Annabella, a woman who would not be crossed and who dominated her daughter's life right up to Ada's death at age 37. There is much controversy associated with Ada's life, and Woolley (Virtual Worlds) deals with it openly and philosophically. Some of his interpretations will surely be questioned, but for a biography filled with "sex, drugs, and mathematics" this is to be expected. Readers who enjoyed Dava Sobel's Galileo's Daughter will find this interesting.

Hilary Burton, Lawrence Livermore National Lab, CA

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

"A splendid and enthralling portrait"-The Sunday Times (London); "It's a thriller"-New Scientist; "Woolley...skillfully conveys the excitement and contradictions of the era, and builds maximum suspense into the book's episodic structure - an approach that serves well in this popular account of a complex life and time..." - Publishers Weekly; "Although the colorful cast of luminaries and rogues sometimes diverts us from Ada's tragic story, this biography provides an intriguing glimpse into the beginnings of computer science and a reminder that character is destiny." - The Wall Street Journal

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 432 pages
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill Companies; 1st edition (February 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0071388605
• ISBN-13: 978-0071388603
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.9 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #992,893 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #75 in Books > Science & Math > Experiments, Instruments & Measurement > Scientific Instruments

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting read, April 27, 2001

By 

Caterpillar Girl (Boulder, CO USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Bride of Science: Romance, Reason, and Byron's Daughter (Hardcover)

Romance and Byron certainly reign supreme in this book. Science, however, is lacking. A very interesting account of Byron and his brief marriage fills the first quarter of the book. His daughter, Ada, is the subject of the other three-quarters. The book uses Ada as a biographical example of the ever-more-intense clash between Reason (science, industry, etc) and Romance (poetry, religion, arts, etc). Ada seems to be unable to cope with this conflict within herself and the author details several periods of mental illness. Though the biography of Ada Lovelace is intriguing, the main focus is on the society in which she lived. A fascinating history lesson, and an eye-opening look into a hitherto neglected woman. That said, there are quiet a few mispellings (not unusual for a first edition). If you are interested in the period, Byron, or love biographies - this is a good choice. If your bent runs to the specific scientific contributions or more widely to a reflection on the conflict between Romance and Reason, you might try another work such as the Calculating Passion of Ada Byron or Ada, the Enchantress of Numbers (though neither of those includes the actual program she wrote) and Victorian Minds/a Study of Intellectuals in Crisis and Ideologies in Transition or In Pursuit of a Scientific Culture : Science, Art, and Society in the Victorian Age.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Window into early nineteenth century England, November 16, 2009

By 

Green Ibis "msiv" (Amsterdam, Netherlands) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Bride of Science: Romance, Reason, and Byron's Daughter (Paperback)

More than just a biography of Ada Lovelace Byron, this is a narrative of the social setting of early 19th century England. In the span of under 4 decades of Ada's life, Charles Babbage had demonstrated his Difference Engine with a working model, created the design for his Analytical Engine, many scientists were performing experiments related to electricity and magnetism, and some were dabbling in their relationship to the human mind, the great railway system emerged with the steam powered engine making distances shorter and travel less of a hardship. The debates surrounding progress of science versus keeping the tranquility of nature undisturbed are well represented in this narrative.

The story covers a lot of the scandals of incest associated with Byron and his separation from his wife - this separation dominated Ada's life and had far-reaching effects on her children as well. Ada's mother Annabella - Lady Byron comes across as a domineering, influential, cruel and manipulative woman.

Speculation, reconstruction, historical evidence all play their parts in this most fascinating story of the "Enchantress of Numbers" as Ada came to be known. This well written biography talks about Ada's early interest in flying and other "impossible" projects, absorption with mesmerism, phrenology, and above all, her quest for tying the cold mathematical world (of her mother) to the hot, passionate, poetic world of her father. Due to the unique legacy of her parents, Ada sees her purpose in life as one of somehow reconciling the two disparate worlds.

Despite her mother's best efforts to keep Byronic passions out of Ada's personality, those are what Ada naturally leans towards, as is evident from her failed elopement in her teens, then several "episodes" with men at various points in her life, and her obsession with gambling, her (medically prescribed) consumption of laudanum / opium, and subsequent addiction. Her professional relationship with several imminent scientists including Charles Babbage, her writing of "notes" on scientific subjects, study of mathematics in her adulthood, her desperation to immerse herself in science in order to avoid her father's legacy - in spite of all her efforts Ada proves to be a Byron more than a Milbanke (her mother's maiden name).

The human story is more in evidence than the story of a scientific or mathematical mind. So if you are looking for just facts and details related to Ada as a scientist or "first computer programmer" this book will not be enough.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not bad, but not really that great, October 11, 2002

By 

LangMat "Historian, Medical Writer" (Watsonville, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Bride of Science: Romance, Reason, and Byron's Daughter (Hardcover)

As a historian of science and technology, and also a person very interested in computer science and fascinated by poetry as well, this book looked like a full 5 stars at first. Like some of the other reviewers, I felt swamped by the details of Ada's emotional life; yet, there are flashes of brilliance where the author makes a clear connection between her social position, her interior life as we can best judge it, and her pursuits. I wonder if there would have been a better way to organize the book; as it stands now, the book is almost purely narrative (with some asides and flashbacks), and appears to be aimed at the popular reader with a seasoning of technical information to goad the more serious critic into reading on. On the positive side, I was pleased to read a clarification of Ada's role in the Babbage Difference Engine's precocious presentation. And at times, the story was fascinating. Other times, it was just plain soggy.