Binary and the Baby: tensions between mathematics and engineering in The University of Manchester
| Dates: | 7 November 2019 |
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| Times: | 16:30 - 18:00 |
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| What is it: | Talk |
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| Organiser: | University History and Heritage |
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| Who is it for: | University staff, Adults, Alumni, Current University students, General public |
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| Speaker: | Jonathan Swinton, James Sumner |
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There are two separate blue plaques on the Coupland Street building complex, neither visible from the other: one recognises Alan Turing as a founder of computer science, while the other memorialises FC Williams and Tom Kilburn as creators of the first electronic computer. This separation reflects an uneasiness between engineering and mathematical disciplines still visible today in controversies around historical accounts of who-did-what. Manchester's University in 1948 was staffed by academics with a limited but definite diversity of disciplines, class, gender and sexuality, and we discuss the extent to these differences were barriers which prevented post-war Manchester's notable combination of theoretical and applied talent from reaching its full potential.
Jonathan Swinton is a writer and mathematician. His Alan Turing's Manchester was published in March 2019.
James Sumner is Senior Lecturer in CHSTM.
Speakers
Jonathan Swinton
Role: Writer and mathematician
James Sumner
Role: Senior Lecture in the History of Technology
Travel and Contact Information
Find event
Pear Lecture Theatre
Coupland Building 1
Manchester
