Events at The University of Manchester
  • University home
  • Events
  • Home
  • Exhibitions
  • Conferences
  • Lectures and seminars
  • Performances
  • Events for prospective students
  • Family events
  • All Events

Binary and the Baby: tensions between mathematics and engineering in The University of Manchester

Dates:7 November 2019
Times:16:30 - 18:00
What is it:Talk
Organiser:University History and Heritage
Who is it for:University staff, Adults, Alumni, Current University students, General public
Speaker:Jonathan Swinton, James Sumner
See travel and contact information
Add to your calendar

Other events

  • In category "Talk"
  • In group "University History and Heritage"
  • By University History and Heritage

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

  • https://www.manturing.net

James Sumner

Role: Senior Lecture in the History of Technology

  • https://www.research.manchester.ac.uk/portal/James.Sumner.html

Travel and Contact Information

Find event

Pear Lecture Theatre
Coupland Building 1
Manchester

Contact event

University History and Heritage

heritage@manchester.ac.uk

Share / follow event

Contact us

  • +44 (0) 161 306 6000

Find us

The University of Manchester
Oxford Rd
Manchester
M13 9PL
UK

Connect with the University

  • Facebook page for The University of Manchester
  • Twitter page for The University of Manchester
  • YouTube page for The University of Manchester
  • Google+ page for The University of Manchester
  • Pinterest page for The University of Manchester

  • Privacy /
  • Copyright notice /
  • Accessibility /
  • Freedom of information /
  • Charitable status /
  • Royal Charter Number: RC000797
  • Close menu
  • Home
    • Featured events
    • Today's events
    • The Whitworth events
    • Manchester Museum events
    • Jodrell Bank Discovery Centre events
    • Martin Harris Centre events
    • The John Rylands Library events
    • Exhibitions
    • Conferences
    • Lectures and seminars
    • Performances
    • Events for prospective students
    • Family events
    • All events