Ada Lovelace Symposium - Celebrating 200 Years of a Computer Visionary

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10 December 2015 marks the 200th anniversary of the birth of Ada Lovelace, chiefly known for her work on Charles Babbage’s unbuilt mechanical general-purpose computer, the Analytical Engine. The Symposium is aimed at a broad audience of those interested in the history and culture of mathematics and…

Oxford University


    • Dec 18, 2015 LATEST EPISODE
    • infrequent NEW EPISODES
    • 33m AVG DURATION
    • 20 EPISODES


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    Latest episodes from Ada Lovelace Symposium - Celebrating 200 Years of a Computer Visionary

    Enchantress of Abstraction, Bride of Science: must Ada Lovelace be a superheroine?

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 18, 2015 58:51


    Panel discussion to conclude the symposium with Muffy Calder, Valerie Barr, Suw Charman-Anderson, Murray Pittock and Cheryl Praeger. Chair: Muffy Calder, University of Glasgow. Speakers: Valerie Barr, Union College and Chair ACM-W. Suw Charman-Anderson, Founder of Ada Lovelace Day. Murray Pittock, University of Glasgow. Cheryl Praeger, University of Western Australia Cheryl Praeger, University of Western Australia.

    Humans, machines, and the future of work

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 18, 2015 39:09


    Moshe Vardi, Rice University explores the question "If machines are capable of doing almost any work humans can do, what will humans do?".

    Mathematics and culture: geometry and its ‘Figures in the Air’

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 18, 2015 42:12


    Judith Grabiner, Pitzer College describes how the 19th century saw radical change, producing new ideas of space, destroying the unchallenging authority of mathematics, revolutionising art, making relativity possible and helping create modernism. Includes an introduction by Michael Wooldridge, Head of the Department of Computer Science, University of Oxford.

    Mathematics and culture: geometry and its ‘Figures in the Air’ (Slides)

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 18, 2015


    Judith Grabiner, Pitzer College describes how the 19th century saw radical change, producing new ideas of space, destroying the unchallenging authority of mathematics, revolutionising art, making relativity possible and helping create modernism. Includes an introduction by Michael Wooldridge, Head of the Department of Computer Science, University of Oxford.

    Imaginary engines

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 18, 2015 46:58


    In this talk graphic artist and animator Sydney Padua talks about her bestselling graphic novel "The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage". She will also display her 3D animations of how the Analytical Engine would have looked and operated.

    The Analytical Engine and the Aeolian Harp

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 18, 2015 21:41


    In this talk Imogen Forbes-Macphail, University of California, Berkeley, contextualises Lovelace's work on the engines against the backdrop of Romantic thought surrounding the power of poetry and the nature of original composition.

    Enchantress of Numbers or a mere debugger?: a brief history of cultural and academic understandings of Ada Lovelace

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 18, 2015 24:05


    To mark the 200th anniversary of Lovelace's birth, Elizabeth Bruton, Museum of the History of Science, reviews and explores academic and popular representations of Ada Lovelace and engage with the controversy of her claim as the first computer programmer. Includes an introduction from Sally Shuttleworth, Professor at University of Oxford.

    The mathematical correspondence of Ada Lovelace and Augustus De Morgan

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 18, 2015 24:51


    During the years 1840-1, Ada Lovelace corresponded with the mathematician Augustus De Morgan. In this talk Christopher Hollings, University of Oxford reports on recent new studies of the mathematics Ada was learning with De Morgan.

    The early education of Ada Byron

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 18, 2015 29:20


    In this talk Julia Markus, Hofstra University shall dispel the myth that Lady Byron kept Ada from poetry, she will also show that the mother-daughter relationship was a psychological spur to Ada's early experiments.

    Pythagoras to pacifism: mathematics and archives

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 18, 2015 26:12


    In this talk June Barrow-Green from the Open University describes some mathematical archives and some of the issues associated with them. Includes an introduction from Vicki Hanson, Vice-President of the ACM.

    Will you concede me Poetical Science?

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 18, 2015 60:07


    Ada Lovelace had a broad interest in the science and technologies of the day and explored post-Romantic ideas which made a significant link between science and poetry. In this talk Richard Holmes looks at some of these surprising connections.

    Ada Lovelace lives forever: Ada’s four questions

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 18, 2015 29:41


    How Ada approached information is the key to understanding her contribution. In this talk Betty Toole, author of "ADA: The Enchantress of Numbers" focuses on Ada's four questions: What is the source? What does it mean? What if? and Why not?

    From Byron to the Ada Programming Language

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 17, 2015 14:56


    John Barnes, Ada software consultant talks about Byron and his bear and the evolution of the computing language named after Ada Lovelace.

    Turning numbers into notes

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 17, 2015 30:07


    Composer Emily Howard talks to David De Roure about her musical composition 'Ada sketches'.

    Ada Lovelace, a scientist in the archives

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 17, 2015 32:31


    Ursula Martin, University of Oxford and Soren Riis, Queen Mary University of London give new focus to letters within the archive of Ada Lovelace's family documents. Includes an introduction by Nick Woodhouse, President of the Clay Mathematics Institute.

    Notions and notations: designing computers before computing

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 17, 2015 28:18


    Adrian Johnstone, Royal Holloway, University of London reviews Babbage's remarkable 'Mechanical Notation'.

    Interpreting dreams of abstract machines

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 17, 2015 37:08


    Bernard Sufrin, University of Oxford establishes a context of Ada's 'Translators Notes' using more recent descriptions of computing machinery and programming methods.

    Interpreting dreams of abstract machines (Slides)

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 17, 2015


    Bernard Sufrin, University of Oxford establishes a context of Ada's 'Translators Notes' using more recent descriptions of computing machinery and programming methods.

    Charles Babbage and Ada Lovelace: two visions of computing

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 17, 2015 44:49


    Doron Swade, Royal Holloway, University of London reviews the trajectory of Babbage's calculating Engines and examines Ada Lovelace's contribution to computing.

    Introduction to the Ada Lovelace Symposium

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 14, 2015 9:01


    Alexander Wolf, President of the Association for Computing Machinery and Imperial College London, introduces the Ada Lovelace Symposium.

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