This week: The Diaries of Dr Kathleen Lynn; The Founding Father of Artificial Intelligence; and using AI to digitise the first Irish language newspaper.

The Diaries of Kathleen Lynn

Kathleen Lynn was a radical and a revolutionary, a suffragist, a socialist and a politician. She is known to many people for her participation in the 1916 Rising - but Lynn's battles and campaigns extended far beyond the revolutionary period. Lynn was a pioneering medical professional: a doctor who established and maintained one of Ireland’s most important hospitals.

Lynn was also a diarist. For nearly four decades before her death in 1955 she kept a daily record of her life: a life spent in the company of her fellow activist Madeleine ffrench-Mullen and their many friends; a life spent offering care, protection and hope for their many patients.

To discuss that life, Myles is joined by Dr Mary McAuliffe, historian, lecturer and Director of Gender Studies at University College Dublin and Harriet Wheelock, Keeper of Collections at the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland, in whose archives the original diaries are stored. They are co-editors of the recently published book - The Diaries of Kathleen Lynn: a Life Revealed Through Personal Writing

The book is published by UCD Press

The Founding Father of Artificial Intelligence

Artificial Intelligence is a field at the forefront of technological innovation and societal transformation. We're going to look now at the life and contributions of a man known as one of the Founding Fathers of AI – Professor John McCarthy.

He was a visionary who laid the groundwork for the technology revolution we’re witnessing today. He’s credited with coining the term "Artificial Intelligence", naming the frontier of research he helped pioneer.

To talk about the life and work of this Irish-American computer scientist, Myles is joined by technology journalist Andy O’Donoghue.

The An Gaodhal Project

Did you know that the first Irish-language newspaper in the world was published not in Ireland, but in New York? It was called An Gaodhal – and when it was founded in 1881, there were hundreds of thousands of native Irish speakers living in the city.

Right now, an ongoing project aims to create a fully digital, searchable edition of the newspaper – comprising twenty-two hundred pages, published over two decades in the late 19th century.

To achieve this, researchers are using AI to decipher old newsprint – a task somewhat complicated by the fact that it's printed in the Cló Gaelach, the old Irish typeface, which is now rarely used.

Our producer, Lorcan Clancy found out more. He talks to Dr Deirdre Ní Chonghaile, Associate Research Scholar at Glucksman Ireland House, New York University. She is working on the project along with colleagues Dr Nicholas M. Wolf, an historian of the Irish language, and data scientist Oksana Dereza. Click here for more information on this project.