Turing and the Universal Machine (Icon Science)
The Making of the Modern Computer
Published on 7. September 2017
160 pages
978-1-78578-253-4 (ISBN)
Description
The history of the computer is entwined with that of the modern world and most famously with the life of one man, Alan Turing. How did this device, which first appeared a mere 50 years ago, come to structure and dominate our lives so totally? An enlightening mini-biography of a brilliant but troubled man.
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Book
09/2017
Icon Books
€15.50
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Person
Jon Agar is Professor of Science and Technology Studies at University College London, where he teaches history of science and technology. He is also the author of Science in the Twentieth Century and Beyond (Polity, 2012) and Constant Touch: a Global History of the Mobile Phone (Icon, second edition 2012).
Content
- Intro
- Contents
- Title Page
- Copyright
- Acknowledgements
- About the Author
- 1 Universal Machines
- 2 The Blue Pig
- 3 Prolific Piglets: Computers everywhere
- 4 A World Out of Control
- 5 Babbage: A 'Difference Engine' that made a difference?
- 6 The Analytical Engine
- 7 Accidental Information
- 8 Information on the Masses
- 9 The Spur of War
- 10 Zuse in Nazi Germany
- 11 American Speed
- 12 Turing in Secret Britain
- 13 Foundations Shaken
- 14 Mathematics: Truth or game?
- 15 Crisis Looms
- 16 Turing and the Decision Problem
- 17 Government Codes
- 18 The Computer
- 19 Minding the Gap: Many universal machines
- 20 Cold War Minds
- 21 Materialisation
- Further Reading
