This is Charles and Ada, the heroes of today’s lesson. Why do you think they are important?

Read the story of Charles and Ada. Why are they important today?

This is the true story of two people, Charles and Ada, connected by inventiveness, curiosity and a brilliant imagination. Two people who changed the world. Two people whose ideas allow you to spend your day watching cat videos on YouTube.

You’ve probably never heard of Charles Babbage nor Ada Lovelace, but you should have. They were pioneers in the world of computing, designing devices and writing programs that the technology of the day made it impossible to build.

Charles Babbage was a mathematician and inventor. He was tired of working under the thumb of his Cambridge professors and decided that if he could invent the one great computational machine then he would be liberated to work as he wanted.

However, not everyone saw his vision or believed in his genius. The Prime Minister of Great Britain, Robert Peel, gave him the cold shoulder and never ever invited him round for drinks again after an evening of Babbage explaining his engine. ‘You’re pulling my leg,’ said Peel – ‘who would ever need a computer?’

Ada Lovelace was the daughter of a poet. Not just any poet, but a leading Romantic. This is a polite way of saying that he had lots of girlfriends and probably many children. Ada’s family didn’t want her to grow up to be a poet, so they taught her the safer subjects of maths and science – unusual for 19th century women.

Ada met Charles when she was 17. They became friends quickly, seeing eye to eye on many ideas. Women couldn’t study advanced mathematics at university in those days, but Charles stuck his neck out for Ada and got her lessons with a leading professor at the University of London.

Later, when Charles was working on the analytical machine Ada lent a hand, writing codes that today we would recognise as programming loops.

Babbage’s Analytical Engine was never built in his lifetime, but nonetheless he is recognised as the father of the computer. Lovelace’s work was largely forgotten for over a hundred years, but by the 1950s she was being called the world’s first computer programmer.

Body Idioms

Draw a body outline in your notebook, like the one below. Find examples of body idioms in the story of Charles and Ada and place them as near as possible to the correct part of the body.

Now find three more idioms that weren’t in the text and also add them to the picture.

Body Idioms Q&A

Choose three of the body idioms from this lesson.  Write a question for each one that you can ask your classmates.

Example: How would you feel if your classmates gave you the cold shoulder?

1 __________________________________________________

2 __________________________________________________

3 __________________________________________________

The Greatest Machine That Never Was

Now let’s go back to Charles Babbage.

We are going to watch a TED talk about Charles Babbage’s computer. Before we watch, look at the questions and predict the answers.

1) In which century was the first computer developed?

2) Why did he never finish his designs?

3) The machine uses …

4) Why is it a computer and not a calculator?

5) What did the machine use to make it work

6) What was missing from his computer compare to a modern design?

7) What did Ada Lovelace think of that Charles Babbage didn’t?

8) The biggest difference between Babbage’s computer and today’s is ….

9) What are they planning to do at the science museum?

10) When will it be ready?

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What do you think of Babbage’s design?
Would you like to use it?