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Imagination is the discovering faculty; it is that which penetrates into the unseen worlds around us.

Ada Lovelace, letter, 1841

Mind

The story behind the card

Ada Lovelace (1815–1852), the English mathematician remembered as one of the first to see what computers could do, wrote this in a letter in January 1841, later published with her correspondence. She described imagination in two ways: first as a combining faculty that joins facts and ideas with no obvious connection, and above all as a discovering faculty that reaches the 'unseen worlds' of science. Her mother, Annabella Milbanke, had schooled her hard in mathematics, partly to steer her away from the temperament of her father, Lord Byron, whom she never knew. Two years later she wrote her famous notes on Charles Babbage's Analytical Engine, a mechanical computer that was designed but never built.

Türkçe oku
Hayal gücü keşfetme yetisidir; çevremizdeki görünmeyen dünyaların içine işleyen odur.
Ada Lovelace, mektup, 1841

İngiliz matematikçi Ada Lovelace (1815–1852), bilgisayarların neler yapabileceğini ilk görenlerden biri olarak anılır. Bu cümleyi Ocak 1841'de bir mektubunda yazdı; mektup çok sonra, yazışmalarıyla birlikte yayımlandı. Lovelace hayal gücünü iki yönüyle tanımlar: Önce, aralarında belirgin bir bağ olmayan olguları ve fikirleri bir araya getiren birleştirme yetisi; ama her şeyden önce, bilimin “görünmeyen dünyalarına” ulaşan keşfetme yetisi. Annesi Annabella Milbanke, biraz da onu babası Lord Byron'ın mizacından uzak tutmak için küçük yaştan sıkı bir matematik eğitimiyle yetiştirmişti; Ada babasını hiç tanımadı. İki yıl sonra, Charles Babbage'ın tasarlayıp hiçbir zaman yapamadığı mekanik bilgisayar Analitik Makine üzerine ünlü notlarını yazacaktı.

Sources and further reading

Background reading: Ada Lovelace
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