Saturday, June 23, 2012

A tribute to Turing, the father of modern computing


Computers use to be people that did computing for the war effort.  Rooms full of women doing computations by hand.  Today computers are logic devices buried in silicon chips.  

There have been many steps in between and Alan Turing helped greatly in getting us started on that path.  The Google Blog has a nice write up to help us look back and reflect before looking forward again.  

Where will the path take us?
- LRK -

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http://googleblog.blogspot.com/
A tribute to Turing, the father of modern computing
June 22, 2012 at 4:00 PM
“The past is a foreign country—they do things differently there.” It’s a saying that rings especially true in the world of technology. But while innovating requires us to focus on the future, there are times when it’s important to look back. Today—the 100th anniversary of Alan Turing’s birth—is one such moment. 

Statue of Alan Turing at Bletchley Park

Turing’s life was one of astounding highs and devastating lows. While his wartime codebreaking saved thousands of lives, his own life was destroyed when he was convicted for homosexuality. But the tragedy of his story should not overshadow his legacy. Turing’s insight laid the foundations of the computer age. It’s no exaggeration to say he’s a founding father of every computer and Internet company today. 

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A Wikipeda link.
- LRK -

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Alan Mathison Turing, OBE, FRS (play /ˈtjʊərɪŋ/ tewr-ing; 23 June 1912 – 7 June 1954), was a British mathematician, logician, cryptanalyst andcomputer scientist. He was highly influential in the development of computer science, providing a formalisation of the concepts of "algorithm" and "computation" with the Turing machine, which played a significant role in the creation of the modern computer.[1][2] Turing is widely considered to be the father of computer science and artificial intelligence.[3]
During World War II, Turing worked for the Government Code and Cypher School (GCCS) at Bletchley Park, Britain's codebreaking centre. For a time he was head of Hut 8, the section responsible for German naval cryptanalysis. He devised a number of techniques for breaking German ciphers, including the method of the bombe, an electromechanical machine that could find settings for the Enigma machine.
After the war he worked at the National Physical Laboratory, where he created one of the first designs for a stored-program computer, the ACE. In 1948 Turing joined Max Newman's Computing Laboratory at Manchester University, where he assisted in the development of the Manchester computers[4] and became interested in mathematical biology. He wrote a paper on the chemical basis of morphogenesis,[5] and he predictedoscillating chemical reactions such as the Belousov–Zhabotinsky reaction, which were first observed in the 1960s.
Turing's homosexuality resulted in a criminal prosecution in 1952, when homosexual acts were still illegal in the United Kingdom. He accepted treatment with female hormones (chemical castration) as an alternative to prison. He died in 1954, just over two weeks before his 42nd birthday, fromcyanide poisoning. An inquest determined it was suicide; his mother and some others believed his death was accidental. On 10 September 2009, following an Internet campaign, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown made an official public apology on behalf of the British government for the way in which Turing was treated after the war because of his sexual orientation.[6]

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More in the news.
- LRK -

Alan Turing: Inquest's suicide verdict 'not supportable'

By Roland PeaseBBC Radio Science Unit23 June 2012 Last updated at 03:52 ET

Alan Turing, the British mathematical genius and codebreaker born 100 years ago on 23 June, may not have committed suicide, as is widely believed.
At a conference in Oxford on Saturday, Turing expert Prof Jack Copeland will question the evidence that was presented at the 1954 inquest.
He believes the evidence would not today be accepted as sufficient to establish a suicide verdict.
Indeed, he argues, Turing's death may equally probably have been an accident.

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Where will computers take us in the future?  Will they become more like the human computers of old and have original thoughts?
- LRK -

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Robotics: Anticipating Asimov

by PAUL GILSTER on JUNE 21, 2012
My friend David Warlick and I were having a conversation yesterday about what educators should be doing to anticipate the technological changes ahead. Dave is a specialist in using technology in the classroom and lectures all over the world on the subject. I found myself saying that as we moved into a time of increasingly intelligent robotics, we should be emphasizing many of the same things we’d like our children to know as they raise their own families. Because a strong background in ethics, philosophy and moral responsibility is something they will have to bring to their children, and these are the same values we’ll want to instill into artificial intelligence.
The conversation invariably summoned up Asimov’s Three Laws of Robotics, first discussed in a 1942 science fiction story (‘Runaround,’ in Astounding Science Fiction‘s March issue) but becoming the basic principles of all his stories about robots. In case you’re having trouble remembering them, here are the Three Laws:
  • A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
  • A robot must obey the orders given to it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
  • A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Laws.
Asimov is given credit for these laws but was quick to acknowledge that it was through a conversation with science fiction editor John Campbell in 1940 that the ideas within them fully crystallized, so we can in some ways say that they were a joint creation. As Dave and I talked, I was also musing about the artificial intelligence aboard the Alpha Centauri probe in Greg Bear’s Queen of Angels (1990), which runs into existential issues that force it into an ingenious solution, one it could hardly have been programmed to anticipate.
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Here is to looking up, maybe near, maybe far, maybe even a star.
And the computer will take you there. And beware.
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WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK -

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Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Chinese Astronauts´ first night inside Tiangong-1


The Chinese launch to their space lab has been in the news and here are a few links if you missed the action.
- LRK -

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Astronauts live up on busy space schedule

06-20-2012 00:34 BJT
The successful docking of the Shenzhou 9 spacecraft and the Tiangong-1 orbital lab signifies the start of a new chapter for the three Chinese astronauts on board. They'll work and live in the space module for the majority of their remaining 2-week journey in space.
Blasting off in a rather limited space in the Shenzhou 9, it took the three Chinese astronauts almost 2 days of orbital maneuvering and a good half hour's walking & crawling to finally reach the more roomy Tiangong-1.
Deng Yibing, Chief Engineer, China Astronaut Research & Training Center, said, "It was the busiest day for the astronauts since the blast-off. They didn't even have time to eat lunch. They had to monitor the automatic docking and prepare for the future manual docking. They also took some samples of the air in the laboratory. The temperature, humidity, and the level of carbon dioxide and oxygen partial pressure are all fantastic."
Despite being 350 kilometers above the surface of the earth, the astronauts are now working and living by the familiar Beijing Time. On their first night aboard Tiangong-1, Commander Jing Haipeng stood watch and crew member Liu Wang and Liu Yang rested.
But even in their sleep, there were sending valuable data to scientists back home.
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VIDEO: ASTRONAUTS ON BUSY SPACE SCHEDULE

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More info on the Shenzhou 9 spacecraft and the Tiangong-1 orbital lab.
- LRK -

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Manned Space Mission
Shenzhou 9's Docking Mission with Tiangong-1 

Videos, pictures and information - LRK -

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More history from SpaceDaily. Source: Xinhua News Agency
- LRK -

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DRAGON SPACE
China's manned space mission "hits target": Russian expert
by Staff WritersBeijing (XNA) Jun 18, 2012

The successful launching of the Shenzhou-9 spacecraft on Saturday proves again China's grasp of essential space techniques and shows Chinese vision on how to develop the space programwith steady steps and rational goals, a Russian space expert said.

China's National Space Administration (CNSA) has adopted the policy of making small but reliable achievements, which could be summarized as "slower and better," Igor Lisov, a researcher in the Cosmonautics News magazine, told Xinhua in an interview.

Each mission of China's spacecraft is aimed at reaching exactly one particular achievement. "This time, the fourth one, the objective was to undertake the manned docking, the first in the Chinese space program's history," Lisov said.

China launched the Shenzhou-9 spacecraft with Liu Yang - the country's first female astronaut - and her two male crewmates Jing Haipeng and Liu Wang aboard from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwestern China at 6:37 p.m. (1037 GMT) Saturday.
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Here is to looking up, maybe near, maybe far, maybe even a star.
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WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK -

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Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Ray Bradbury died on June 5, 2012, at the age of 91 after a long illness


One way we can go to Mars is through imagery of a great writer.
Ray Bradbury will be missed but his stories will live on.
- LRK -

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Ray Bradbury, recipient of the 2000 National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters, the 2004 National Medal of Arts, and the 2007 Pulitzer Prize Special Citation, died on June 5, 2012, at the age of 91 after a long illness. He lived in Los Angeles.

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Read on.
- LRK

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Ray Douglas Bradbury (August 22, 1920 – June 5, 2012)[1][4] was an American fantasy, horror, science fiction, and mystery writer. Best known for his dystopian novel Fahrenheit 451 (1953) and for the science fiction stories gathered together as The Martian Chronicles (1950) and The Illustrated Man (1951), Bradbury was one of the most celebrated among 20th century American writers of speculative fiction. Many of Bradbury's works have been adapted into television shows or films.

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And what some had to say.  You may have some thoughts as well.
- LRK -

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Writers, filmmakers react to Ray Bradbury's death

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS


Reaction to the death of author Ray Bradbury:
"He was my muse for the better part of my sci-fi career. He lives on through his legion of fans. In the world of science fiction and fantasy and imagination he is immortal." - Steven Spielberg
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"He was always my favorite science fiction writer because what he did was rooted in reality. He never got really out there." - Tom Wolfe
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"He was kind, and gentle, and always filled with enthusiasm, and that the landscape of the world we live in would have been diminished if we had not had him in our world." - Neil Gaiman
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Here is to looking up, and adventures of the mind when reality fails to live up to our expectations.
Then again, imagination is a great way to think of what might be possible with commitment, perseverance, and money. :-)
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WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK -

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Monday, June 4, 2012

The ISS Transit of Venus


As it often happens, you folks wake me up.  
Should have given a heads up sooner.
This from Kendall.

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Hello all,

Here are some key links concerning the 2012 Transit of Venus:

Science @ NASA educational page:  http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2012/31may_isstransitofvenus/ --

Astronaut Don Pettit's Flickr photostream. He's the astronaut taking the photos:http://www.flickr.com/photos/nasa_jsc_photo/7164346718/in/photostream -- Interesting to know that ISS has Internet readily available, but should almost go without saying in 2012.

Good NASA video on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5Lx4fC42KI  -- 

Official NASA page for the 2012 Transit of Venus: http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/OH/transit12.html
...of interest.

-Kendall
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And from NASA News.
-LRK -

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From: NASA Science News <noreply@nasascience.org>
Date: Fri, Jun 1, 2012 at 2:18 AM
Subject: The ISS Transit of Venus
To: NASA Science News <snglist@nasascience2.org>


NASA Science News for May 31, 2012High above Earth, astronaut Don Pettit is about to become the first human to witness and photograph a transit of Venus from space. His images and commentary will be streamed to Earth during the crossing.
FULL STORY: http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2012/31may_isstransitofvenus/
VIDEO: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5Lx4fC42KI
This is a free service.
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Even if you aren't prepared to view yourself we should have pictures to view.
When you think about how seldom we get to see this transit, it may make you wonder how the Kepler mission ever gets a chance to see a far off planet transit its sun with only a few photons being blocked by the planet.

Kepler hosts live brodcast of Venus transit.
- LRK -
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Michele Johnson
Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif.
650-604-4789
michele.johnson@nasa.gov
May 31, 2012
 
RELEASE : 12-43AR
 
 
NASA Ames Hosts Live Broadcast of Transit of Venus
 
 
MOFFETT FIELD, Calif. -- News media and the public are invited to observe the transit of Venus broadcast live from atop Mauna Kea, Hawaii, beginning at 3:04 p.m. PDT Tuesday, June 5, 2012 in the Exploration Center at NASA's Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif. The June 5th transit will be the final opportunity to witness the rare astronomical reunion until 2117. 

The transit occurs when Venus passes directly between Earth and the sun. Viewers will see Venus as a small dot drifting across the golden disk of the sun. There have been 53 transits since 2000 B.C. The rare event occurs in pairs, with the last transit occurring June 8, 2004.
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Reporters must send requests for media credentials to Michele Johnson at michele.johnson@nasa.gov by 5 p.m. PDT Monday, June 4, 2012. Batalha and other NASA officials will be available for interviews beginning at 1 p.m. PDT in the Exploration Center. 

WHEN: Tuesday, June 5, 2012 (all times PDT)
- 1:50 p.m.: Welcome from NASA Ames 
- 2 - ­2:30 p.m.: The Kepler Mission and the Transit of Venus, Natalie Batalha, Kepler mission scientist, NASA Ames
- 2:30 p.m. ­ 8 p.m.: Solar observing and Hands-on activities
- 2:45 p.m. - 8 p.m.: Live NASA EDGE broadcast from Mauna Kea, HI
- 3:04 p.m.: Venus begins its six-hour transit

WHERE: 
NASA's Exploration Center is the large white dome located at the main gate of NASA's Ames Research Center. To reach NASA Ames, take U.S. Highway 101 to the Moffett Field, NASA Parkway exit and drive east on Moffett Boulevard towards the main gate and bear right into the parking lot. 

For more information about the worldwide events, safety precautions for viewing, educational content and social media activities, visit: 

http://venustransit.nasa.gov 

The public can follow the event on Twitter on #VenusTransit and download a free mobile app at: 

http://venustransit.nasa.gov/2012/multimedia/apps.php 
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Here is to looking up, and thanks for looking up with me.
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WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK -

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