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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.

4 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: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
  3. 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.