5 Oct 2012
Amsterdam, The Netherlands
turing100.nl
Amsterdam, 5 October 2012
Openbare Bibliotheek Amsterdam
http://www.turing100.nl
The year 2012 marks the centenary of the birth of Alan M. Turing, one of the
fathers of the modern computer, a key figure in the decryption of the secret
codes of the Nazis in the second world war, and a contributor of key ideas to
many areas of modern science, in particular in the mathematical sciences. All
over the world, researchers are celebrating the 100th birthday of this great
and inspiring scientist by workshops and conferences. Given that Turing laid
the foundations to so many different research areas (from logic via
computability to artificial intelligence), these events tend to be very
interesting interdisciplinary events, bringing together researchers from
different disciplines.
The Nederlandse Vereniging voor Logica & Wijsbegeerte der Exacte Wetenschappen
(VvL) decided to add an opportunity for the Dutch community of researchers to
engage in similarly fruitful discussions and have a meeting that will put
Turing's achievements into a contemporary research context in Amsterdam in
October 2012. Our meeting will be open for all researchers in the fields of
logic, artificial intelligence, history of computing, and theoretical computer
science; it will serve as a forum for Dutch researchers to meet international
top experts. The meeting is funded by NWO.
turing100.nl will feature five speakers, two from history of computing, two
from the research areas resting on Turing's ideas, and the science journalist
Bennie Mols who published the book Turings Tango. Waarom de mens de computer de
baas blijft. In the evening, the University Players Hamburg will perform Hugh
Whitemore's Breaking the Code about Alan Turing's life and work:
http://www.math.uni-hamburg.de/BreakingTheCode/
Speakers:
Dr. Andrew Hodges is a fellow of Wadham College, Oxford, and currently its
Dean. His mathematical work is in mathematical physics, but he is mostly known
as the most important biographer of Alan Turing. His biography Alan Turing: The
Enigma (1983) has been translated into several languages (winning the Premio
Letterario Giovanni Comisso). It has also been dramatised (as Breaking the
Code) for stage and television (see below). His work shows how the historical
roots of modern technology lie in mathematical discovery and weaves it together
with Alan Turing's life and consciousness as a gay man.
Prof. Dr. Antonina Kolokolova is an assistant professor at the Department
of Computer Science of the Memorial University of Newfoundland, Canada. Her
research is in theoretical computer science, in particular complexity theory
and its connection to bounded arithmetic and finite model theory. She received
her PhD in 2005 from the University of Toronto under the supervision of Stephen
Cook. Kolokolova is well known for her very clear presentations on the
connections between logic and the big open questions of complexity theory:
these connections relate very closely to Turing's own work.
Prof. Dr. Jan van Leeuwen has recently retired from his position as
professor for computer science at the Universiteit Utrecht where he was
vice-dean for the natural sciences in the Faculty of Sciences. His research
spans large areas of theoretical computer science (algorithms, formal methods,
automata theory) and reaches into the theory and even the philosophy of
information.
Dr. Liesbeth De Mol is postdoctoral researcher at the Universiteit Gent in
Belgium at the Centrum voor Wetenschapsgeschiedenis. She is one of the most
prominent researchers in the history of computing in her generation, playing a
central role in the recent surge of research activity of the field (she was one
of the organizers of the conference HAPOC 2011 in Gent and will be one of the
organizers of the 2012 Turing event at the Royal Academy in Brussels). Her
research is characterized by an interesting blend of historical precision and
technical investigation of both the physical reality of historical computers
and the mathematical properties of models of computation.
Dr. Bennie Mols is a free-lance science journalist, writing for such
publications as NRC Handelsblad, Natuurwetenschap & Techniek, KIJK, De
Standaard, and others. He published books about science such as "Geestdrift:
Wat Cognitiewetenschappers Bezielt" and "Omringd door Informatica". In March
2012, his new book "Turings Tango: Waarom de Mens de Computer de Baas Blijft"
will be published. by De Nieuw Amsterdam publishers.