有人这样形容他:“他英年早逝却成就颇丰,他的研究让他青史留名”。他就是阿兰?图灵,二十世纪的一位伟大人物。然而,在70年代之前,他的名字还不为人知,因为他在破译德国英格玛enigma密码机方面的贡献还没有被公开。图灵的故事令人着迷,而在他自杀之后,他的名气不降反升,因为人们更加深刻地认识到他对逻辑学、数学、计算、人工智能以及计算生物学所做出的贡献。为纪念图灵诞辰一百周年,特将图灵母亲所著的传记再版。数学家马丁?戴维斯为该版重新作序,另外此版还附上了首次公布的图灵哥哥的回忆录。但哥哥的回忆录和图灵母亲的传记之间的差别透露出了矛盾,也可以使读者从新的角度了解图灵本人,以及图灵和家人的关系。
阿兰?图灵传奇的一生虽引人注意,但了解他生平详情的人并不多。他的母亲Sara
Turing在儿子不幸去世后强忍着悲痛,写下了零星的传记材料,才使得后人认识这位“怪才”的成长历程。
背景知识:
阿兰图灵(Alan
Turning)(1912年6月23日-1954年6月7日),这个名字这个名字无论是在计算机领域、数学领域、人工智能领域还是哲学、逻辑学等领域,都可谓“掷地有声”。图灵是计算机逻辑的奠基者,许多人工智能的重要方法也源自这位伟大的科学家。他在24岁时提出了图灵机理论,31岁参与了Colossus(二战时,英国破解德国通讯密码的计算机)的研制,33岁时构思了仿真系统,35岁提出自动程序设计概念,38岁设计了“图灵测试”,在后来还创造了一门新学科—非线性力学。虽然图灵去世时只有42岁,但在其短暂而离奇的生涯中的那些科技成就,已让后人享用不尽。人们仰望着这位伟大的英国科学家,把“计算机之父”、“人工智能之父”、“破译之父”等等头衔都加冕在了他身上,甚至认为,他在技术上的贡献及对未来世界的影响几乎可与牛顿、爱因斯坦等巨人比肩。
学术评论:
''The book is full of brilliant treasures, anecdotal accounts of
Turing''s eccentricity and genius, and insights into his science ...
This little book, with its kaleidoscopic picture of Alan Turing''s
short life, goes some way towards de-coding his mind, and his
family.'' ---- The Guardian
内容简介:
''In a short life he accomplished much, and to the roll of great
names in the history of his particular studies added his own.'' So
is described one of the greatest figures of the twentieth century,
yet Alan Turing''s name was not widely recognised until his
contribution to the breaking of the German Enigma code became
public in the 1970s. The story of Turing''s life fascinates and in
the years since his suicide, Turing''s reputation has only grown, as
his contributions to logic, mathematics, computing, artificial
intelligence and computational biology have become better
appreciated. To commemorate the centenary of Turing''s birth, this
republication of his mother''s biography is enriched by a new
foreword by Martin Davis and a never-before-published memoir by
Alan''s older brother. The contrast between this memoir and the
original biography reveals tensions and sheds new light on Turing''s
relationship with his family, and on the man himself.
特色:
? Never-before-published contribution from Alan''s brother, John
Turing
? Unique personal insights from family, friends, teachers and
colleagues
? Charts Turing''s life from early childhood through to his death in
1954
章节内容:
Foreword to the Second Edition Martin Davis; Foreword to the First
Edition Lyn Irvine; Preface; Part I. Mainly Biographical: 1. Family
background; 2. Childhood and early boyhood; 3. At Sherborne school;
4. At Cambridge; 5. At the Graduate College, Princeton; 6. Some
characteristics; 7. War work in the foreign office; 8. At the
National Physical Laboratory, Teddington; 9. Work with the
Manchester Automatic Digital Machine; 10. Morphogenesis; 11.
Relaxation; 12. Last days and some tributes; Part II. Containing
Computing Machinery and Morphogenesis: 13. Computing machinery; 14.
Chemical theory of morphogenesis considered; Afterword John Turing;
Bibliography; Index.Foreword to the Second Edition Martin Davis;
Foreword to the First Edition Lyn Irvine; Preface; Part I. Mainly
Biographical: 1. Family background; 2. Childhood and early boyhood;
3. At Sherborne school; 4. At Cambridge; 5. At the Graduate
College, Princeton; 6. Some characteristics; 7. War work in the
foreign office; 8. At the National Physical Laboratory, Teddington;
9. Work with the Manchester Automatic Digital Machine; 10.
Morphogenesis; 11. Relaxation; 12. Last days and some tributes;
Part II. Containing Computing Machinery and Morphogenesis: 13.
Computing machinery; 14. Chemical theory of morphogenesis
considered; Afterword John Turing; Bibliography; Index.
学术水平:general readers
读者群:history of science, computing, logic, cryptography,
codebreaking, Second World War