---------- Forwarded message ----------
From:
S Barry Cooper <pmt6sbc@maths.leeds.ac.uk>Date: Mon, Apr 8, 2013 at 11:30 PM
Subject: ATY/TCAC April update
To: CiE <
CiE@amsta.leeds.ac.uk>
After the drama of the 'greatest British innovation of the past century'
vote - see:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2299245/Alan-Turings-Universal-Machine-named-greatest-British-innovation-20th-Century.html we have a surprising amount of Turing-related information to catch up on.
1) The first is a sad piece of news from Damian Newman, son of William
Newman, part of the Newman family in Manchester who were so supportive of
Alan Turing in the last 6 years of his life. William is specially known
for his chess and Monopoly games he played as a boy with Alan. Damian
writes:
"This isn't Turing news, but I wanted to reach out because William had an
accident where he hit his head and ended up in the hospital seven weeks
ago, and unfortunately is still there. He unfortunately had a traumatic
brain injury and is suffering from a serious concussion and amnesia, so is
unable to essentially carry on in any normal way.
"I was wondering if it fit to mention this in one of your (truly
excellent) mailings, so that if he were in the middle of anything with
someone, they could contact me. Though I am in California, I travel
frequently to Cambridge to see him."
We can provide Damian's email address on request, if you need to contact
him, or to pass on messages of encouragement to William. In the meantime,
here is the webpage for the company Damian founded in California:
http://v2.centralstory.com/about/ 2) William's father, Max Newman, is the subject of a new article from Ivor
Grattan-Guinness - he writes:
"Maybe some of your readers would-be interested in the following paper,
which has just been accepted by 'the mathematical intelligencer':
'The Mentor of Alan Turing: Max Newman (1897–1984) as a Logician'
by I. Grattan-Guinness, Middlesex University Business School, The
Burroughs, Hendon, London NW4 4BT, England
"Newman's interest in the foundations of mathematics is known mainly
through a lecture course that he offered at Cambridge University, and for
his relationship with Alan Turing, especially after Turing took that
course in 1935. But why was Newman so interested in logic in the first
place, when it was extremely unusual among mathematicians at that time? A
surprising story, hitherto unknown, is revealed."
3) A time sensitive item is the last minute reminder for the April 9
screenings of 'Codebreaker'. Of the 9 cities originally planned to show
the film, 5 got enough tickets booked for the screening to go ahead - see:
http://tickets.todpix.com/codebreaker/ There are no tickets on the door, so advance purchase via the webpage
essential.
Great to see Galesburg there amongst the 'big hitters' like Chicago,
Seattle, San Francisco and New York. If you would like to bring
'Codebreaker' to your city, we hear from executive producer Patrick Sammon
that:
"We're starting to take requests for CODEBREAKER screenings in May and
June."
Webpage, for those interested:
http://www.todpix.com/codebreaker/request-a-screening.html 4) Also, a last minute encouragement for readers to get their tickets for
"The Universal Machine" - A new musical about the life and death of Alan
Turing, at the New Diorama Theatre in London. It's on from April 16 to May
11, and tickets for all dates are selling fast, a number sold out. For
tickets go to:
http://newdiorama.com/whats-on/the-universal-machine Theatre Manager Sophie Wallis at the New Diorama has sent us a nice flyer
(big file) for the production:
http://www.mathcomp.leeds.ac.uk/turing2012/Images/MachineFlyer.pdf 5) A particularly exciting piece of news is that Manchester University
currently have on loan the superb portrait of Alan Turing by the artist
Maxime Xavier from Lyme Regis. For the artist with her artwork, see:
http://www.mathcomp.leeds.ac.uk/turing2012/Images/Maxim_Xavier.jpg A University representative is reported as saying:
"There is now some possibility that someone might buy the picture so that
it could be on permanent loan to us if we were to pay for the costs of
secure hanging (this includes framing it behind glass)."
Fingers crossed. Seems to buy the portrait outright would cost around 7000
pounds - surely well within the reach of one of our great provincial
universities?
6) In Jerusalem, a major Turing related exhibition "CAPTCHA: the computer
as a philosophical mirror for humans" opened in February, at the
Bloomfield Science Museum, Hebrew University, Jerusalem. Nathan Zeldes
tells us that the exhibition "missing the end of the official year ...
will remain open for some 3 years as a central exhibition at the museum".
He also sent us an article "The Curator's Take on the Wonderful CAPTCHA
Exhibition":
http://www.mathcomp.leeds.ac.uk/turing2012/Images/CAPTCHA-Curator-Take.pdf 7) Anecy Scholling from the British Consulate in Sao Paulo has sent us
some great photos of the March 23 Turing Road Race at the Federal
University of Rio Grande do Sul:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ukinbrazil/sets/72157633089720042/ Also, must mention (again last minute) the showing of "Codebreaker" in Sao
Paulo, Tuesday 9th April:
https://www.gov.uk/government/world-location-news/documentary-on-alan-turing 8) Simon Yarwood from the IET tells us that this year's BCS/IET Turing
Lecture 2013 is available to view online:
http://tv.theiet.org/technology/infopro/16066.cfm http://scpro.streamuk.com/uk/player/?g=e31aee18 He adds:
"What was rather nice was James Turing, Alan's great nephew, who gave a
short presentation about the Turing Trusts work before the lecture -
http://www.theiet.org/membership/member-news/31a/turing-trust.cfm "
9) There has been a lot of coverage in the media of the recently started
Bletchley Park renovations. For example, from the BBC "Bletchley Park
enigma code huts prepare for restoration":
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-21850753 For some great photos, showing the extent of the neglect and the work to
be done, see:
http://www.28dayslater.co.uk/forums/military-sites/79657-bletchley-park-april-2013-a.html 10) We received a fascinating letter from Ed Whitaker, who has spent a
"life-time career in computing, from electronics and computer engineering,
through systems design and more recently Service Management". Apart from
the history (ICL etc), Ed has emailed Jim Dobbin "my local MP (I live in
Norden Rochdale) trying to muster support for a full pardon for Alan
Turing."
11) If you ever wondered who designed our ATY website banner, it was
Lourens Thalen from the Netherlands. He has now designed a new "Alan
Turing Legacy" banner:
http://www.mathcomp.leeds.ac.uk/turing2012/Images/turing_legacy.png (Please ask permission before you use it online!)
Web wizard Collette Curry from Manchester has added it to the website she
maintains at:
http://alanturinglegacy.com 12) For those interested in indie bands, UK band Fiction have included a
track 'The Apple' as a tribute to Alan Turing on their new album "The Big
Other" - see:
http://www.out.com/entertainment/music/2013/02/22/exclusive-music-homage-gay-icon-alan-turing The album is already available, see eg Amazon:
http://amzn.to/150tOkm 13) A less positive item, though it does suggest that Turing is finally
becoming mainstream - if you want to cheat with your Alan Turing
dissertation (and avoid the plagiarism detectors) go to:
http://essaymania.com/57283/alan-turing 14) For a recent very nice article (in Spanish), see:
http://www.mathcomp.leeds.ac.uk/turing2012/Images/Ciencia.jpg 15) An Alan Turing Mural has gone up in Northern Quarter Manchester, see:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/timpers/8554563892/in/photostream/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/timpers/8553455085/in/set-72157625728713746/lightbox/ 16) We still can't tell you anything much, but we are told by our inside
correspondent "we have commissioned a new work on Turing that will receive
its world premiere at London's Barbican Hall in April 2014". Brilliant,
more news soon, hopefully.
17) We are hoping for an international celebration of AMT's 101st birthday
next June 23. We already have: 'New Manchester Walks invites you to join
the annual Alan Turing Birthday Walk though Alan Turing's Manchester, on
Sunday 23 June - starting 11am from the Manchester Museum foyer. "We
celebrate his 101st birthday with a walk from Manchester University,
taking in the site where the computer was invented and where he worked, on
to the cinema where he met his nemesis, and his statue in the Gay
Village." See:
http://www.newmanchesterwalks.com/event/alan-turing/ 18) From Scientific American, a superb piece by Jennifer Ouellette on
"When Math Meets Nature: Turing Patterns and Form Constants":
http://bit.ly/11KSJ6V 19) From Yahoo News UK, another well-informed piece "Alan Turing Centenary
accolades keep coming"
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/alan-turing-centenary-accolades-keep-coming-133900020.html 20) The Alan Turing Cryptography Competition 2013 has come to an exciting
close. Leading team Abbey Grange C of E Academy, Leeds, was overtaken in
the closing straight by Calday Grange Grammar School, Wirral - see:
http://www.maths.manchester.ac.uk/cryptography_competition/leaderboard.php And the solutions to all the chapters have been released:
http://www.maths.manchester.ac.uk/cryptography_competition/chapter.php?nr=8 It has been another wonderful competition with, hundreds of schools
participating. Let's hope the Manchester University organisers will manage
a 2014 edition.
21) Another video has come our way. From Leeds Skeptics on March 20 comes
a video of Prof. Barry Cooper braving the pub environment with his talk
"Alan Turing: The Building of a Brain":
http://www.worfolklectures.org/speakers/barry-cooper 22) Not directly Alan Turing, but we hear that a book is in preparation
from IOS Press on Turing's only PhD student, Robin Gandy:
http://www.turing.org.uk/turing/scrapbook/robin.html Anyone has letters or photographs of this very interesting man - already
nearly 20 years since he died in November 1995 - please contact Philip
Welch <
p.welch@bristol.ac.uk>
All for now ...
__________________________________________________________________________
ALAN TURING YEAR
http://www.turingcentenary.eu Email:
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www.facebook.com/pages/The-Alan-Turing-Year/199853901070 and
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