Editing Turing's Worlds

[[File:Turing in slate.jpg|thumb|Sculpture of {{wp|Alan Turing}} in {{wp|slate}} by {{wp|Stephen Kettle}}, now at {{wp|Bletchley Park}}.]]

'''''Turing's Worlds''''' was an event that covered the life and achievements of {{wp|Alan Turing}} whose centenary was on 23rd June 2012. It was held over the weekend of 23rd–24th June 2012 at {{wp|Rewley House}} in {{wp|Oxford}}, {{wp|England}}. A number of talks covered aspects of Turing’s life and achievements from varying points of view.

==Overview==
The ''Turing’s Worlds'' event was organized in association with the {{wp|British Society for the History of Mathematics}} (BSHM) and the Department of Continuing Education at {{wp|Oxford University}}.

Alan Mathison Turing was born on 23rd June, 1912, exactly a hundred years before this weekend meeting, which celebrated his life and achievements. Although probably most well-known to the public for his work at {{wp|Bletchley Park}} in the pioneering days that saw the birth of modern practical computing, Turing achieved fame well before {{wp|World War II}} with a seminal account of theoretical computation and his solution to the {{wp|Entscheidungsproblem}}. As such, he could be considered the founding father of formal methods. He was also an Olympic-class marathon runner, who refused to conform to the narrow sexual standards of the day and was persecuted for it, while still undertaking fundamental and seminal research on Artificial Intelligence, computer programming, and even mathematical biology.
The event was co-organized by: [[Jonathan Bowen]] ({{wp|BCS-FACS}}/{{wp|London South Bank University}}), {{wp|Martin Campbell-Kelly}} ({{wp|University of Warwick}}), Terry Froggatt (BSHM), Bob Lockhart (Department of Continuing Education, University of Oxford), {{wp|Robin Wilson}} (BSHM/{{wp|Open University}}).

==Programme==

;Saturday, 23rd June 2012

''Welcome address''<br/>
{{wp|Jonathan Bowen}}, London South Bank University

''Turing and the Public Consciousness: Turing 2.0(12)''<br/>
Sue Black, University College London

''Decidability: The Entscheidungsproblem''<br/>
Robin Whitty, London South Bank University

''History of the Turing Hypothesis: The Universal Machine''<br/>
{{wp|John Tucker}}, Swansea University

''Turing in the age of the Internet and the quantum computer''<br/>
{{wp|Samson Abramsky}}, Oxford University

''Turing in the History of Software''<br/>
[[Wikipedia:Cliff Jones (computer scientist)|Cliff Jones]], Newcastle University

''Turing in the History of Computers''<br/>
{{wp|Martin Campbell-Kelly}}, Warwick University

Turing in the Modern World''<br/>
{{wp|Jack Copeland}}, University of Canterbury, New Zealand

''What Alan Turing might have discovered''<br/>
{{wp|Stephen Wolfram}}, Wolfram Research, USA

''Congruent Worlds: Turing, Lovelace and Babbage''<br/>
{{wp|Doron Swade}}, Royal Holloway, University of London

;Sunday, 24th June 2012

''AI and the Turing Test''<br/>
Teresa Numerico, University of Rome 3, Italy

''Morphogenesis Then and Now''<br/>
Philip Maini, Oxford University

''Action This Day''<br/>
Simon Greenish, Iain Standen, & [[Wikipedia:Jean Velentine (bombe operator)|Jean Valentine]], Bletchley Park

''Decoding Alan Turing: A Biographer's Experience''<br/>
{{wp|Andrew Hodges}}, Oxford University

''Why is {{wp|Max Newman}} Part of the Turing Story?''<br/>
{{wp|Ivor Grattan-Guinness}}, Middlesex University

''Turing Our Contemporary''<br/>
{{wp|Darrel Ince}}, Open University

==Book==
A book associated with the ''Turing’s Worlds'' event and similar Turing-related events in {{wp|Cambridge}} and at {{wp|Bletchley Park}} is planned for 2017 and published by {{wp|Oxford University Press}}. The volume is titled ''[[The Turing Guide]]'', written by {{wp|Jack Copeland}}, [[Jonathan Bowen]], [http://www.ppls.ed.ac.uk/people/mark-sprevak Mark Sprevak], [[Wikipedia:Robin Wilson (mathematician)|Robin Wilson]], and others. It includes 42 contributed chapters by experts in the field and some contemporaries of Alan Turing and is aimed at the general reader with an interest in Turing's life and work.

==External links==
*[http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=270894109620718 Facebook event]
*[http://podcasts.ox.ac.uk/units/department-continuing-education Audio recordings of talks]
*[http://www.flickr.com/photos/86372217@N00/sets/72157630377243604/ Photographs on Flickr]
[[Category:2012]]
[[Category:Meetings]]
[[Category:United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Alan Turing]]