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Alan Turing as a computer designer

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If you have a question about this talk, please contact Stephen Clark .

Turing is widely regarded as a pure mathematician, so how was he able to write “Proposals for development in the Mathematics Division of an Automatic Computing Engine (ACE)” at the end of 1945? Turing, in fact, was a pragmatist, and by the end of the Second World War he was even an amateur electronics engineer. He was also fortunate enough to be known to people like Hartree, Womersley and Comrie who were anxious to see work started on automatic computing devices.

The seminar will cover the background to the ACE computer development, important aspects of the original ACE design including Turing’s first software (written in 1945), his formative ideas, and what happened to them.

This talk is part of the Wednesday Seminars - Department of Computer Science and Technology series.

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