To Dream Tomorrow: A Portrait of Ada Byron Lovelace Produced by Jo Francis and John Füegi Friday, October 31, 2003 at 7 p.m. Indiana University, Bloomington Rawles Hall 100

Please join us for a screening of To Dream Tomorrow, followed by a presentation by film-makers Jo Francis and John Füegi. This one-hour, scholarly, interdisciplinary documentary film tells the story of Ada Byron Lovelace, her work with Charles Babbage, and their contributions to computing over a hundred years before the time usually thought to be the start of the Computer Age.

Daughter of a mathematically gifted, social activist mother and the "mad, bad and dangerous to know" poet, Lord Byron, Ada's life was unconventional, daring, and short. Possessed of enormous energy and talent, she faced some daunting obstacles - both in her personal life and the society of her time - as she fought to work professionally and make a contribution to science and mathematics.

This film was researched and directed over a period of four years by scholar/film-makers, Jo Francis and John Füegi. She and he are affiliates of the Maryland Institute for Technology in the Humanities (MITH). Francis/Füegi's documentary films have been broadcast in 29 countries from China to Finland and in 20 languages. Füegi/Francis are the 1996 winners of the Documentary Feature Award of the International Documentary Association, and in 1993, the Prix Futura Award in Berlin and the Danish Television Oscar.

Füegi/Francis's new research on Lovelace gleaned from the key British archives at Oxford, London, & Woking is also being published in articles in the forthcoming Dictionary of 19th Century British Scientists, and in the October/December 2003 issue of Annals of the History of Computing.

Reactions to early screenings of To Dream Tomorrow:

• "I think this is an important artifact in the history of computing, especially pertaining to the role and engagement of women in Math & Computer Science. Personally, I think every computer science program should own a copy and do a regular screening."
  Dr. Deepak Kumar, Chair of Computer Science, Bryn Mawr College

• "An engaging, beautiful, well researched film that tells the story of the remarkable woman who fought against the customs of her day to participate in the dawn of the computer age."
  Leonard J. Shustek, Chair, Computer History Museum, Silicon Valley

• "The film was wonderful and I enjoyed every minute! The questions were very good and your answers were like the film: clean and superb."
  Professor Thomas Bergin, Editor, Annals of the History of Computing

• "Just as Ada's father the poet Lord Byron had a genius for writing so Ada had a genius for practical mathematics, her application of which has been as great a contribution to the world of computers as that of her father to the world of literature."
  Geoffrey Bond, Chair, London Byron Society

• "A masterpiece!"
  Ada descendant, The Earl of Lytton

• "'To Dream Tomorrow' is a moving and intelligent documentary on the fascinating life of Ada Byron Lovelace, who had the vision to see the principles of computing 100 years before the appearance of the modern computer."
  Irvin Kershner, Director of The Empire Strikes Back

For more information about the work of Füegi/Francis, see http://mith@umail.umd.edu/flare. John Füegi can be contacted at jf@flarefilms.org.

This event is open to the public and is sponsored by the Department of Computer Science and the College of Arts and Sciences at Indiana University in Bloomington.