Turing's cathedral : the origins of the digital universe / George Dyson.
2012
QA76.17 .D97 2012 (Mapit)
Available at General Collection
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Details
Title
Turing's cathedral : the origins of the digital universe / George Dyson.
Author
Dyson, George, 1953-
Edition
1st ed.
ISBN
9780375422775
0375422773
0375422773
Imprint
New York : Pantheon Books, c2012.
Language
English
Description
xxii, 401 p., [32] p. of plates : ill., map ; 25 cm.
Call Number
QA76.17 .D97 2012
Dewey Decimal Classification
004/.09
Summary
"Legendary historian and philosopher of science George Dyson vividly re-creates the scenes of focused experimentation, incredible mathematical insight, and pure creative genius that gave us computers, digital television, modern genetics, models of stellar evolution--in other words, computer code. In the 1940s and '50s, a group of eccentric geniuses--led by John von Neumann--gathered at the newly created Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey. Their joint project was the realization of the theoretical universal machine, an idea that had been put forth by mathematician Alan Turing. This group of brilliant engineers worked in isolation, almost entirely independent from industry and the traditional academic community. But because they relied exclusively on government funding, the government wanted its share of the results: the computer that they built also led directly to the hydrogen bomb. George Dyson has uncovered a wealth of new material about this project, and in bringing the story of these men and women and their ideas to life, he shows how the crucial advancements that dominated twentieth-century technology emerged from one computer in one laboratory, where the digital universe as we know it was born"-- Provided by publisher.
"Legendary historian and philosopher of science George Dyson vividly re-creates the scenes of focused experimentation, incredible mathematical insight, and pure creative genius that gave us computers, digital television, modern genetics, models of stellar evolution--in other words, computer code"-- Provided by publisher.
"Legendary historian and philosopher of science George Dyson vividly re-creates the scenes of focused experimentation, incredible mathematical insight, and pure creative genius that gave us computers, digital television, modern genetics, models of stellar evolution--in other words, computer code"-- Provided by publisher.
Bibliography, etc. Note
Includes bibliographical references and index.
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Table of Contents
1953
Olden Farm
Veblen's circle
Neumann János
MANIAC
Fuld 219
6J6
V-40
Cyclogenesis
Monte Carlo
Ulam's demons
Barricelli's universe
Turing's cathedral
Engineer's dreams
Theory of self-reproducing automata
Mach 9
The tale of the big computer
The thirty-ninth step.
Olden Farm
Veblen's circle
Neumann János
MANIAC
Fuld 219
6J6
V-40
Cyclogenesis
Monte Carlo
Ulam's demons
Barricelli's universe
Turing's cathedral
Engineer's dreams
Theory of self-reproducing automata
Mach 9
The tale of the big computer
The thirty-ninth step.