[613] in cryptography@c2.net mail archive
SSP Film: "Breaking the Code (Alan Turing: The Enigma)"
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Atocha Aliseda)
Mon Apr 21 13:34:59 1997
Date: Sun, 20 Apr 1997 23:42:05 -0700
To: cypherpunks@cyberpass.net, cryptography@c2.net
From: Atocha Aliseda <atocha@csli.stanford.edu> (by way of Bill Frantz)
Cc: apfrantz@apple.com (Peri Frantz), ec_bs@communities.com
Mark your calendars!
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
* *
* The SYMBOLIC SYSTEMS FILM SERIES *
* presents *
* *
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
"Breaking the Code:
Alan Turing: The Enigma"
Time: Tuesday, April 29th, 7:30 p.m.
Location: Cubberley Education Building, Room 128,
Stanford University.
(*Please note time change*)
This week we feature a 1 hour and a half film about the british
mathematician Alan Turing (Derek Jacobi); of the role he played
in the second world war by designing the computer that enabled
the allies to crack the German Enigma code and, according to some,
win the war. This film is based on the biography by Andrew Hodges
"Alan Turing: The Enigma" and was shown on PBS, channel 9 (KQED)
last February.
"Publicly, he [Alan Turing] sponsored the entry into Britain of a young
German jewish refugee. Secretly, he worked part-time for the British
cryptanalytic department, the so-called Goverment Code and Cypher
School. He was the `genius loci' at Bletchley Park, famous as `Prof',
shabby, nail-bitten, tie-less, sometimes halting in speech and awkward
of manner, the source of many hilarious anectodes about bicycles, gas
masks, and the Home Guard; the foe of charlatans and status-seekers,
relentless in long shift work with his colleagues, mostly of student
age.
In the last stage of the war he had an ambitious idea: he planned
the embodiment of the `Universal Turing Machine' in electronic form,
or in effect, invented the digital computer. The concept of the
Turing machine has become the foundation of the modern theory of
computation and computability". [1]
The discussion will be led by Solomon Feferman, Professor of Mathematics
and Philosophy at Stanford, specializing in proof theory, computability
theory and the foundations of mathematics; he is a member of the
Symbolic Systems faculty.
The Symbolic Systems Film Series showcases films and tapes of general
cognitive science interest. Attendance at film series events can
substitute for attendance at the Symbolic Systems Forum for students
enrolled in SSP 10 for one unit. All are welcome at these events. The
showing of the videos is followed by a discussion, and researchers who
are knowledgeable about the program's topic are urged to join us in
evaluating it.
To know more about our Film Series, please visit our Program Home
Page at:
http://www-leland.stanford.edu/dept/symbol/
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
[1] Taken from Andrew Hodges 'Home Page'
(http://www.turing.com/turing/Turing.html), an excelent
source to learn more about the life and work of Alan Turing.
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