Atmospheric footnotes: Ada Lovelace on climate

This article brings to light correspondence between Augusta Ada King, Countess of Lovelace (1815–1852) and Sir John Frederick William Herschel (1792–1871) from the Royal Society archives. The 1848 letters reveal the extent of her contribution to an article authored by her husband, William King, Lord Lovelace (1805–1893), on the role of climate on crop growth. This involvement uncovers little-known facets of her scientific pursuits: her interest in the application of photography to meteorological instrumentation, her budding study of astronomy, and her development of mathematical treatments to model the environmental conditions required for plants to grow. The exchange situates Ada Lovelace in the larger context of Victorian science and reflects more widely on the complicated access of women to institutional science.