Elsevier

Historia Mathematica

Volume 44, Issue 3, August 2017, Pages 202-231
Historia Mathematica

The Lovelace–De Morgan mathematical correspondence: A critical re-appraisal

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.hm.2017.04.001Get rights and content
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Abstract

Ada Lovelace is widely regarded as an early pioneer of computer science, due to an 1843 paper about Charles Babbage's Analytical Engine, which, had it been built, would have been a general-purpose computer. However, there has been considerable disagreement among scholars as to her mathematical proficiency. This paper presents the first account by historians of mathematics of the correspondence between Lovelace and the mathematician Augustus De Morgan from 1840–41. Detailed contextual analysis allows us to present a corrected ordering of the archive material, countering previous claims of Lovelace's mathematical inadequacies, and presenting a more nuanced assessment of her abilities.

Zusammenfassung

Ada Lovelace wird generell als frühe Pionierin der Informatik angesehen. Dies vor allem wegen des 1843 erschienenen Artikels über Charles Babbages ‘Analytical Engine’, die, wäre sie damals gebaut worden, einen Allzweckcomputer dargestellt hätte. Allerdings gibt es beträchtliche Meinungsverschiedenheiten unter Historikern hinsichtlich Lovelaces mathematischer Kenntnisse. Dieser Artikel präsentiert den ersten Bericht von Mathematikhistorikern über die Korrespondenz der Jahre 1840–41 zwischen Lovelace und dem Mathematiker Augustus De Morgan. Detaillierte Kontextanalyse erlaubt es uns, eine korrigierte Anordnung des Archivmaterials vorzulegen, die bisherigen Meinungen über die mathematischen Unzulänglichkeiten von Lovelace entgegenwirkt und die eine nuanciertere Bewertung ihrer Fähigkeiten erlaubt.

MSC

01A55

Keywords

Ada Lovelace
Augustus De Morgan
Correspondence
19th century
Mathematics education

Cited by (0)

Christopher Hollings is Departmental Lecturer in Mathematics and its History at the Mathematical Institute, University of Oxford, and a Senior Research Fellow at The Queen's College, Oxford. His research interests are in the history of mathematics, where, in addition to Ada Lovelace, he researches various issues relating to the development of mathematics during the Cold War.

Ursula Martin is Professor of Computer Science at the University of Oxford, and a Senior Research Fellow at Wadham College, Oxford, with interests in mathematics, computer science and the interaction between them.

Adrian Rice is Professor of Mathematics at Randolph-Macon College in Virginia, USA, where his research focuses on the history of 19th- and early 20th-century mathematics, on which he has published several research papers, articles and books. He is a three-time winner of prizes awarded by the Mathematical Association of America for outstanding expository writing.