Those of you with an interest in Ada Lovelace will want to tune into a number of upcoming programmes on BBC Four and Radio 4 – mark your calendars!
The Letters of Ada Lovelace
11am, 14 and 21 September, Radio 4
Georgina Ferry presents the correspondence of Ada Lovelace, dramatized by an all-star cast. Uninterested in Ada the feminist icon or crazy fantasist, she reveals the intense inner world of a young Victorian lady who anticipated our digital age, when steam power was still the new big thing.
Calculating Ada: The Countess of Computing
9pm, 17 September, BBC Four
In this new film, Dr Hannah Fry tells the story of Ada Lovelace. Born in the early 19th-century Ada was a countess of the realm, a scandalous socialite and an ‘enchantress of numbers’. The film is an enthralling tale of how a life infused with brilliance, but blighted by illness and gambling addiction, helped give rise to the modern era of computing.
In this clip from the film, Hannah Fry explains that Ada’s real claim to fame was that she was the first pioneer to realise the true versatility of computers.