Posted: 1st March 2018

Two of the department’s professors will be speaking at the Oxford Literary Festival on Monday 19 March, ahead of the publication of their books.

Professor Ursula Martin, with co-presenter Miranda Seymour, will examine the extraordinary life of Ada Lovelace, and Professor Mike Wooldridge will talk about the reality of artificial intelligence today.

Ursula is co-author of ‘Ada Lovelace: The Making of a Computer Scientist’, due out in April. Featuring images of the ‘first programme’ and Lovelace’s correspondence, alongside mathematical models, and contemporary illustrations, the book shows how Ada, with astonishing prescience, explored key mathematical questions to understand the principles behind modern computing.

Mike’s ‘Artificial Intelligence: A Ladybird Expert Book’ is an introduction to intelligent machines and the humans that program them, aimed at adults. The book, due to be published late March chronicles the development of intelligent machines, from Turing's dream of machines that think, to today's digital assistants such as Siri and Alexa.

Both talks will be at the Weston Lecture Theatre at the Bodleian Library. Mike at 2pm and Ursula at 4pm.

Further details

Ursula and Miranda at the festival: http://oxfordliteraryfestival.org/literature-events/2018/march-19/ada-lovelace-the-making-of-a-computer-scientist

Mike at the festival: http://oxfordliteraryfestival.org/literature-events/2018/march-19/artificial-intelligence-fact-and-fiction

Ursula’s book: https://www.bodleianshop.co.uk/ada-lovelace-the-making-of-a-computer-scientist.html  

Mike’s book: www.penguin.co.uk/books/307139/artificial-intelligence-a-ladybird-expert-book/