On the anniversary of the death of Sir Charles Wheatstone, we thought we’d share news of a new exhibit at the National Portrait Gallery (NPG), London, which includes both a unique stereoscopic daguerreotype of Sir Charles Wheatstone and his family, and an engraving of him.
‘The Bride of Science: Ada Lovelace, Her Circle, and Women Pioneers’ has recently opened in Room 20, Floor 2, of the NPG. This display celebrates the recent acquisition of three rare daguerreotypes, including the only known photographs of Ada Lovelace. Generously supported by Tim Lindholm and Lucy Gaylord Lindholm through the American Friends of the NPG, the acquisition provides a unique opportunity to represent Lovelace from life within the Gallery’s Collection and celebrate her pioneering contribution to computing.
Next to the cabinet containing the daguerreotypes of Lovelace is a beautiful stereoscopic daguerreotype of Wheatstone and his family by Antoine Claudet:
Sir Charles Wheatstone and his family. Stereoscopic daguerreotype by Antoine Claudet. National Portrait Gallery Collection, P154.
Wheatstone either suggested or commissioned Ada Lovelace to undertake the scientific translation of French text by Captain Luigi Menabrea covering Charles Babbage’s lectures on the Analytical Engine in Turin. Drawing on her mathematical and scientific knowledge and skills, Ada added supplementary and expansive notes on the Analytical Engine to the translation, including describing a method of using the machine to calculate Bernoulli numbers, which is often called the first published computer program. This is why she has been referred to as the first computer programmer. Wheatstone went on to name one of his daughters after Ada.
For more information on the wonderful exhibit, please see the NPG website.
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