Ada Lovelace Made It
Has anyone read “The Innovators” by Walter Isaacson? It was nothing like the standard business books such as 13 principles of leadership or 5 ways to build trust. It actually reads more like a gossip tabloid with juicy details of little-known historical figures, mixed with the author’s interpretation about how innovation happened. I highly recommend it to anyone who’s a history nerd or wants to win trivia nights in their local pubs.
The first chapter is dedicated to Ada, Countess of Lovelace. She is the daughter of Lord Byron who you might have known as the friend of Percy Shelly, and Mary Shelley (author of Frankenstein). Ada’s whole family has been, as you would have guessed, aristocratic, wealthy, and with plenty of political power to spare. However, her parents broke up because Lord Byron had an affair with his half-sister when Lady Byron was pregnant. Lady Byron found out during a visit when Lord Byron asked both of them to take turns kissing him (!?). Ada never saw her father for her whole life, because Lady Byron wanted to shield her daughter away from the devil himself, obviously. In addition, to counter her “poetic imaginations and Byronic tendencies”, Lady Byron had Ada matriculated in mathematics, physics, basically all the STEM subjects. But her worst nightmare still happened: Ada had an affair with one of her tutors at age 19 and was about to elope with him but failed in the attempt. Parenthood is all the struggles.
Ada also had respiratory and digestive problems and was later treated with some form of opium that may have led to self-delusion. In one of the letters Ada sent to her idol and later co-founder Charles Babbage, she described herself as having unparalleled genius and was destined to go far and achieve great things. Ada was trying to convince Babbage to hire her. I mean, sometimes you need a boost of confidence before you apply for a job. For Ada, it may have been a mix of involuntary drug influence and her royal upbringing. For others, it may be a cup of strong coffee plus cardio in the morning. For me, it has always been the song “worth it” by Fifth Harmony. It’s good to reflect on this question: what gets your juices flowing before an interview?
So far so… exciting. The place where I parted ways with the author was when Mr. Isaacson said Ada overcame a lot of obstacles and did not mention anything about the privilege she has enjoyed growing up in a Byronic family, getting tutored in many disciplines, having the safety net to make mistakes. My hot take - Ada Lovelace made it, and maybe it was a feat in and of itself but attributing success solely to a hero or heroine’s hard work and talent without mentioning the difference her upbringing made on her is doing a disservice. We can acknowledge her dedication and focus but also recognize that no other woman in her time could afford any of the luxuries she had. So maybe, just maybe, she made it because she was the only one who could have made it?