article · Irish Mathematical Society Bulletin · 2012
Sara Turing: Alan M. Turing
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Abstract
When one tries to describe the impact of the legacy of a single mathematician, that of Alan Turing is hard to overestimate.Even if one ignores his work in cryptanalysis during the World War II that resulted in breaking the Enigma code, it is obvious that his contributions shaped both a whole new area of fundamental research, now known as theoretical computer science, and the applicable "practical computer science", the art of using computer programs to effectively solve problems that can be in principle solved by mathematical methods.In his foundational papers, Turing came up with a rigorous notion of computability, proved that some computational problems cannot be successfully solved in finite time, and also proved that those problems that can be solved, can actually be solved altogether by a "universal computer program".This elaborate study of computability and its limits has had the most profound impact on both blue-sky research and applications of science in the past decades.With the year 2012 marking the centenary of the birth of Alan Turing, there is no surprise that there has been an increase in interest in his persona, and in the clear intent scientific publishers have demonstrated to satisfy that interest.The book under review is a very unusual instance of a biography.It consists of three parts.The main part was written by Turing's mother Sara a few years after his death.It is based both on her very elaborate personal recollections and on letters she received from various people whom she had asked to comment on their encounters with Turing.Martin Davis, one of Turing's biographers, has written a very detailed and helpful foreword which covers some intentional gaps in Sara Turing's narrative and which adds a contemporary perspective which she would not 1991
Cite this paper
Dotsenko, V. (2012). Sara Turing: Alan M. Turing. Irish Mathematical Society Bulletin, 0070, 54–57. https://doi.org/10.33232/bims.0070.54.57
Dotsenko, Vladimir. “Sara Turing: Alan M. Turing.” Irish Mathematical Society Bulletin, vol. 0070, 2012, pp. 54–57, https://doi.org/10.33232/bims.0070.54.57.
Dotsenko, Vladimir. 2012. “Sara Turing: Alan M. Turing.” Irish Mathematical Society Bulletin 0070: 54–57. https://doi.org/10.33232/bims.0070.54.57.
Dotsenko, V. (2012) ‘Sara Turing: Alan M. Turing’, Irish Mathematical Society Bulletin, 0070, pp. 54–57. Available at: https://doi.org/10.33232/bims.0070.54.57.
@article{dotsenko2012sara,
title = {{Sara Turing: Alan M. Turing}},
author = {Dotsenko, Vladimir},
journal = {Irish Mathematical Society Bulletin},
volume = {0070},
pages = {54--57},
year = {2012},
doi = {10.33232/bims.0070.54.57}
}Made from the index record. Check names, capitalisation and page numbers against the paper. Need another style? AI for Research has over 10,000.