The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage explained

The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage
Author:Sydney Padua
Illustrator:Sydney Padua
Language:English
Subject:Ada Lovelace and Charles Babbage
Genre:Steampunk
Publisher:Pantheon Books (US)
Penguin Books (UK)
Release Date:21 April 2015
Media Type:Print, hardcover
Pages:320
Isbn:978-0-307-90827-8
Oclc:1054115668

The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage: The (Mostly) True Story of the First Computer is a steampunk graphic novel written and drawn by Sydney Padua. It features Ada Lovelace and Charles Babbage in an alternative universe where they have successfully built an Analytical Engine and use it to "fight crime".

The book was published simultaneously by Pantheon Books in the US and Penguin Books in the UK on 21 April 2015.[1] It has received positive reviews and awards.

Setting and publication history

The book grew out of a webcomic of the same name.[2] [3] The comic began as a single comic strip for Ada Lovelace Day in 2009, a celebration of women in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.[4] Disliking the fact that both Babbage and Lovelace died with their life work incomplete, Padua created a fictional ending for the strip, then found that "a lot of people saw it and thought that I was actually going to do a comic, which I had no intention of doing. But then I started thinking, 'What if I actually did the comic?' I started fooling around, and I guess I'm still fooling around with it."

The setting describes an alternative historical reality[5] in which Ada Lovelace and Charles Babbage have actually built an Analytical Engine and use it to "fight crime" at Queen Victoria's request.[6] Also featured in the comic is the great engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel, whom Padua has called "the Wolverine of the early Victorians".[7]

The comic is based on thorough research on the biographies of and correspondence between Babbage and Lovelace, as well as other bits of early Victoriana, which are then twisted for humorous effect. "Some of the documents are more entertaining than the actual comic. Plenty of times, I've thrown something into the comic just so I'd have an excuse to refer to some document," Padua says.[8]

Awards and reception

The book received positive early reviews from Publishers Weekly and Kirkus Reviews.[9] [10]

In December 2015 it was announced that, for The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage, Padua would receive the biennial Neumann Prize of the British Society for the History of Mathematics,[11] which is "awarded for a book in English ... dealing with the history of mathematics and aimed at a broad audience".[12] The UK edition of the book received the 2015 British Book Design and Production Award for graphic novels.[13]

In April 2016 The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage was nominated for the Eisner Award in the Best Graphic Album–New category, and Padua was nominated in the Best Writer/Artist category.[14]

A chamber opera based on the book, with music by Elena Ruehr and libretto by Royce Vavrek, was first performed on 3–5 February 2023, by Guerilla Opera in collaboration with the MIT Center for Art, Science & Technology.[15] [16] The Guerilla Opera production was also presented by the Rozsa Center for the Performing Arts at Michigan Technological University on 12–15 October 2023.[17]

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Tantaratara. 12 September 2014. sydneypadua.com. 18 March 2015.
  2. Web site: The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage. 2dgoggles.com. Sydney . Padua . 2 January 2018.
  3. Web site: Experiments in Comics with Sydney Padua. Jaymee. Goh. 26 October 2009. Tor.com. 13 February 2016.
  4. Web site: Ada Lovelace: the secret origin. Sydney . Padua . sydneypadua.com.
  5. Web site: Pocket Universe Guide. sydneypadua.com. 2 February 2016. en-US.
  6. Web site: Lovelace and Babbage Vs The Client Pt 3 . sydneypadua.com. Sydney . Padua. 21 August 2009. 2 January 2018.
  7. Web site: Brunel . sydneypadua.com. Sydney . Padua. 27 April 2009. 2 January 2018.
  8. Web site: Sydney Padua and 'The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage'. Bruce. Byfield. LWN.net. 5 October 2011. 2 January 2018.
  9. Web site: The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage: The (Mostly) True Story of the First Computer. Publishers Weekly. 18 March 2015. 26 January 2015.
  10. Web site: The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage: The (Mostly) True Story of the First Computer. Kirkus Reviews. 18 March 2015. 3 February 2015.
  11. Web site: Winner of the 2015 Neumann Prize . 10 December 2015 . British Society for the History of Mathematics . 12 December 2015.
  12. Web site: Neumann Prize . British Society for the History of Mathematics . 12 December 2015.
  13. Web site: 2015 Winners . British Book Design and Production Awards . British Printing Industries Federation . 12 December 2015 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20151222161347/http://www.britishbookawards.org/shortlist-winners-2015/ . 22 December 2015.
  14. Web site: 2016 Eisner Award Nominees . 19 April 2016 . 19 April 2016 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20160419182522/http://www.comic-con.org/awards/2016-eisner-award-nominees . 19 April 2016.
  15. Web site: Cosmic Cabbage and Lovage . 27 January 2023 . The Boston Musical Intelligencer . 3 February 2023.
  16. Web site: The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage Digital Program . Arts at MIT . 4 February 2023.
  17. Web site: Opening Tonight: 'The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage' . 12 October 2023 . Computing News Blog . Michigan Technological University . 22 October 2023.