[W.F. Lantry]

Originally Posted by Gail White

Great subject! Although when I saw the title, I hoped it would be about Byron's legitimate daughter, Ada. You could do something about her too!

That woman was a legitimate genius, in the best sense. Her "poetical science" work on the analytical engine was the definition of ground-breaking, and she completed it even though the machine didn't actually exist. Imagine the insight:

"[The Analytical Engine] might act upon other things besides number, were objects found whose mutual fundamental relations could be expressed by those of the abstract science of operations, and which should be also susceptible of adaptations to the action of the operating notation and mechanism of the engine...

Supposing, for instance, that the fundamental relations of pitched sounds in the science of harmony and of musical composition were susceptible of such expression and adaptations, the engine might compose elaborate and scientific pieces of music of any degree of complexity or extent."

She saw the future we live.

Best,

Bill