For free online booking, see:

http://www.bcs.org/content/ConWebDoc/52335

For other BCS-FACS events, see:

http://www.bcs.org/category/12468

For location of the BCS London Office, see:

http://www.bcs.org/category/5843

Jonathan Bowen

Chair BCS-FACS Specialist Group

www.bcs-facs.org

BCS-FACS evening seminar, 2014

Thursday 5^th June 2014, 5.15pm coffee/tea/biscuits for 6.00pm talk, Wilkes Room 1/2

Alan Turing: The Founder of Computer Science

Prof. Jonathan P. Bowen
http://www.bcu.ac.uk/tee/our-staff/jonathan-bowen

Birmingham City University

Abstract: Alan Mathison Turing (1912-1954), OBE, FRS, has a rightful claim to the title of father of modern computing. He laid the theoretical groundwork for a universal machine that models a computer in its most general form before World War II. During the war, Turing was instrumental in developing and influencing actual computing devices that have been said to have shortened the war by up to two years by decoding encrypted enemy messages that were believed by others to be unbreakable. Unlike some theoreticians, he was willing to be involved with practical aspects, and was as happy to wield a soldering iron as he was to wrestle with a mathematical problem, normally from a unique angle compared to others. This talk will explore Alan Turing’s life, achievements, and legacy, in the month of the 60^th anniversary after his death (on 7^th June 1954).