´óÏó´«Ã½

1951: Alan Turing's ‘Can Digital Computers Think?’

´óÏó´«Ã½ Archive: Actor, writer, comedian and Turing fan Mark Gatiss re-voices the influential text from 1951.

On 15 May 1951, the mathematician Alan Turing delivered a lecture on the ´óÏó´«Ã½ Home Service titled, "Can Digital Computers Think?"

It was a part of a series of lectures on the emerging science of computing which featured other pioneers of the time, including D.R. Hartree, M.H.A. Newman, F.C. Williams and M.V Wilkes.

No recording exists of Turing’s broadcast, but his original paper script, with his handwritten notes and markings, remains in the ´óÏó´«Ã½ Written Archive. With thanks to the Turing Archive at King's College Cambridge.

  • Published