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Programmer Buys Original Ada Lovelace Painting On eBay

Posted by kdawson on from the mother-of-us-all dept.

An anonymous reader sends the story of the rediscovery of an original painting of Ada Byron at about age 4, the girl who was to become Countess Lovelace and the world's first computer programmer. A US Army sergeant in Tajikistan caught wind of an eBay auction of a 180-year-old painting of Ada Byron, with provenance; he notified a programmer buddy in Texas, who won the auction.

8 of 86 comments (clear)

  1. A.I... by headkase · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Ada Lovelace was the daughter of Lord Byron who was strongly associated and interacted greatly with Percy Shelly who was married to Mary Shelly. Mary Shelly wrote Frankenstein which - wrapped in the language of the times - was a stab at Artificial Intelligence - but without intelligence separated from the physical representation (i.e. no concept of an artifact such as a computer) so artificial life was the metaphor instead. Blah blah blah I should go on Jeopardy.

    --
    Shh.
    1. Re:A.I... by anagama · · Score: 3, Interesting

      And don't forget that Frankenstein was likely due in part to the frigid summer caused by the eruption of Mt. Tambora. That should be good for a bonus point or two.
      http://frankensteinia.blogspot.com/2008/01/frankensteins-volcano.html

      --
      What changed under Obama? Nothing Good
  2. Re:Sorry by cpuffer_hammer · · Score: 2, Interesting

    But since the Analytical Engine was never built (within her lifetime). She was never faces with debugging, code maintenance, or any of the other boring parts of the programmers trade. So can she really be given the credit of "world's first computer programmer". Or is it unfair to blame a software person because the hardware developers let the schedule slip.

  3. Re:Sorry by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    What Ada realised that Babbage missed wasn't programming as such, but realise the potential of abstracting the 'input' so that it didn't just do number crunching. Which is, in essense, what a programming 'language' is.

    There was a very interesting discussion on the BBC here

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/history/inourtime/inourtime_20080306.shtml

    About Ada Lovelace and her relationship with Babbage that you can listen to.

  4. Re:suspicious? by leicaman · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Robert is a friend of mine. Has been for almost 20 years. And I can confirm this is real as far as he is concerned, and he's done his best to confirm its veractiy. It's not a fake. And such accusations without proof are libelous (being in written form), no doubt based on jealousy, not to mention is basically irrational.

    --
    Eric
    If the human brain were so simple that we could understand it, we would be so simple that we couldn't. - Pugh
  5. Prayer to Lady Ada by Johnny+Fusion · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Lady Ada,
    Look down upon this humble coder,
    Guide me with your unerring logic.

    Lady Ada,
    Inspire me with your genius,
    may I code a thing of beauty.

    Lady Ada,
    You set the path before me,
    may I follow it for the rest of my days.

    --
    There are two kinds of fool. One says, This is old, and therefore good. And one says, This is new, and therefore better.
  6. Motive? by Weaselmancer · · Score: 2, Interesting

    And such accusations without proof are libelous (being in written form), no doubt based on jealousy, not to mention is basically irrational.
    Wrong on all three counts.

    Let's see, the OP is saying he is convinced the painting is real, he is doing his best to shut up anyone questioning his claim, and he is claiming anyone who does question his claim is irrational.

    You know, if someone was trying to sell a fake they'd do these exact three things. Make a claim, try to silence opposition to the claim, and discredit his detractors.

    I'm not saying it is a fake, I'm just saying this guy is obviously paving the way for selling the painting, but doing it exactly like a con artist would. Don't believe me? Check out antiques auctions on eBay. The guys who are full of bologna do the exact same song and dance. Especially people selling old armour. Bury it in their backyard for a few months, dig it up, then make those kind of statements.

    "This is a real Roman Cavalry helmet."
    "Stop nitpicking about the details or I'll report you to eBay abuse. You're screwing up my auction."
    "If you not a real historian then shut up, you don't know what you're talking about."

    --
    Weaselmancer
    rediculous.
    1. Re:Motive? by DerekLyons · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Let's see, the OP is saying he is convinced the painting is real, he is doing his best to shut up anyone questioning his claim, and he is claiming anyone who does question his claim is irrational.

      Not quite - the OP is a friend of the buyer and is defending him.
       
       

      You know, if someone was trying to sell a fake they'd do these exact three things. Make a claim, try to silence opposition to the claim, and discredit his detractors.

      Much more likely the friend (Robert) has a great deal of emotional investment in his collection - and his friend is merely trying to defend him. Such is life online. (Notice the typical threats of libel, veiled attacks ad hominem etc...?)
       
       

      I'm not saying it is a fake, I'm just saying this guy is obviously paving the way for selling the painting, but doing it exactly like a con artist would. Don't believe me? Check out antiques auctions on eBay. The guys who are full of bologna do the exact same song and dance. Especially people selling old armour. Bury it in their backyard for a few months, dig it up, then make those kind of statements.

      Oh, I could tell you tales that would curl your hair from when I ran a used and rare bookstore... You wouldn't believe the stories people will tell.
       
      But the thing that makes me wonder is why the painting showed up on eBay. If the antique dealer is serious and knowledgeable and the piece is provably authentic... Then I'd expect it to appear at a real auction house, not on eBay.
       
      Actually, rereading the article, I note something interesting - there is no claim the painting was ever really authenticated. Only that unnamed 'experts' dated it. (Which in reality is something impossible to do right without physically examining the artifact.)
       
      I'm not sure it's a deliberate con - but it does smell of amateurs who haven't done the homework they aren't qualified to do in the first place.