Exhibit Opening, Augusta Ada Byron King - A Fairy in Your Corner

Exhibit Opening, and conversation with the Curator, Sat, August 2, 12pm - 2pm

Augusta Ada Byron King - A Fairy in Your Corner
Curated by Miss Siri Woodget of Caledon
Jack & Elaine Whitehorn Memorial Library, Caledon VictoriaCity
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Caledon%20VictoriaCity/52/203/23
August 1 - October 25th, 2008

"I can throw rays from every quarter of the universe into one vast focus"

Mesmerism, flying machines, Romantic verse and proto-computers.... Ada Byron (King), otherwise known as Lady Lovelace (1815-1852), stands at the intersection of Victorian art and science. Daughter of the renegade Lord Byron and his more numerically minded wife Annabella Milbanke, Ada was born with dual powers: her gift was to grasp and render mathematical theory with the immediacy of poetry.

Ada's deep friendship with the mathematician Charles Babbage -- designer of the steam-powered Difference and Analytical Engines -- placed her at the origins of the computer age, and her genius for metaphor translated his theories into terms accessible to the educated layman.

Most famous for her notes on the Analytical Engine, which some say represent the first computer program, Ada was admired and courted by the great minds of the day, including Michael Faraday, the pioneer of electromagnetics, and Charles Dickens.

As a woman, an intellectual and a mathematician, Ada cuts a compelling figure. Although she died young, her contributions to the history of computer science are significant. Join us in a celebration of her unique contribution, and find out how a young Victorian woman became the First Lady of computer programming. 

MIss Woodget will be on hand from noon until two in the afternoon, SLT, to welcome visitors, discourse upon her inspirations and insights, and answer questions about Lady Ada's life and times. Music for the event will be provided by Miss Soliel  Snook of Radio Riel

gentlepixels, your servant

JJD