Wednesday 3rd April 2024 Introduction to John Herschel

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Dr Emily Winterburn

Wednesday 3rd April 2024 7.30 pm in the BRLSI, can be attended either in the BRLSI or remotely on Zoom

Meet John Herschel,  much less famous today than either his father or his aunt yet in his day he represented the very definition of what a scientist should be.  In 1824, as the BRLSI began, he too was just starting out. On the 8 June, there will be a Conference dedicated to every aspect of the life & work of this great man, but for today let’s just get to know him. What did he do? Why should we care about him? What were his politics? What was his family life like? Come along on 3rd March and find out.

This introduction to John Herschel will prepare us for the all-day conference on Saturday 8th June 2024,

Emily Winterburn is one of the authors for the forthcoming Cambridge Companion to John Herschel. She is also the author of a biography of John’s aunt, Caroline Herschel (The Quiet Revolution of Caroline Herschel, 2017) and completed her PhD on the Herschel family in 2011. She is the former curator of astronomy at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich. Today she is a teacher and writer living in Leeds. She is also honorary vice president of the Society for the History of Astronomy.

Tickets (£6/£3), proceeds to the BRLSI) available here.

Monday 4th March 2024 Ada Lovelace: the  Making of a  Computer Scientist

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Monday 4th March 2024 7.30 pm in the BRLSI, can be attended either in the BRLSI or remotely on Zoom

Part of a BRLSI series of events around International Women’s Day to celebrate Extraordinary Women.

The image is from the book cover (see below), credit: Bodleian Library

Ada, Countess of Lovelace, (1815-1852), is sometimes called the world’s first computer programmer and has become an icon for women in technology. But how did a young woman in the 19th century, without access to formal school or university education, acquire the knowledge and expertise to become a pioneer of computer science?   The answer lies in the archives in Oxford’s  Bodleian Library, which show a talented an inquisitive child growing into a serious scientist with a remarkable knowledge of cutting edge mathematics of the day, and a fascination with contemporary scientific developments – from mesmerism to photography.

Professor Ursula Martin CBE FREng FRSE is a fellow of Wadham College Oxford, recently retired from Oxford’s mathematical Institute, where she researched a variety of topics at the intersection of mathematics and computer science. Her work on Ada Lovelace’s mathematics has led to several papers and a recent book “Ada Lovelace: the making of a computer scientist” published by Oxford’s Bodleian Library.
https://bodleianshop.co.uk/products/ada-lovelace-the-making-of-a-computer-scientist

A video recording of this lecture is available here.