From friends to foes?
Ada and Babbage did not always have a picture-perfect partnership
On the surface, the friendship between Ada and Charles Babbage was certainly an unusual one. When they met, she was a vivacious 17-yearold while he was two decades older than her with a difficult personality. They formed a correspondence that lasted until Ada’s death in 1852 and their work is hailed in the world of computer science. But as it turns out, this unlikely pair did not always get along.
When Babbage first conceived his Difference Engine, it attracted the interest of the government, which provided him with funding to build it in 1823. Unfortunately, Babbage came unstuck as the resources of his time limited his ability to create a functioning Engine and he was never able to complete it. Instead, he turned his attention to the Analytical Engine, which was far more advanced, but he couldn’t secure government funding after his previous failure.
Angered, Babbage voiced his criticism of the government in a preface he wished to add to Ada’s translation and additional notes on Menabrea’s article. Ada did not object, provided that Babbage signed the preface to make it clear that it was not her work. But Babbage wanted to leave it unsigned and attempted to get the publishers of the journal Scientific Memoirs to agree.
However, they ruled against him and infuriated, Babbage demanded that Ada withdraw her paper before it could be published. Considering all of the work and effort she had put into the paper, Ada refused. It led to a temporary breakdown in relations between the two of them, although they eventually reconciled.