Lady Lovelace and Charles Babbage

This paper is centered on the correspondence that took place between Lady Lovelace and Charles Babbage, particularly during her writing of the extensive notes that accompany her translation of Menabrea´s paper on Babbage´s Analytical Engine. The material is selective. Her mathematical background and studies are given in some detail, while little mention is made of her other great interest, music. Her travels and family relationships are not mentioned except where they directly apply to her work or to her relationship with Charles Babbage. Most of the material has been gathered from original sources. Through the courtesy of the Rt. Hon. Earl of Lytton, O.B.E. (great-grandson of the Countess of Lovelace), and his son, Viscount Knebworth, access was granted to the Lovelace-Byron papers deposited in the Bodleian Library, Oxford University. The Babbage Correspondence in the British Library, London was another source. Also of value were the letters of the Somerville Collection owned by Lady Fairfax Lucy and deposited in the Bodleian Library.