MARC Record from Library of Congress

LEADER: 02664nam a22003618a 4500
001 2011030265
003 DLC
005 20110826183511.0
008 110826s2012 nyu 001 0 eng
010 $a 2011030265
020 $a9780375422775 (hardback)
040 $aDLC$cDLC
042 $apcc
050 00 $aQA76.17$b.D97 2012
082 00 $a004/.09$223
084 $aSCI000000$aBIO015000$2bisacsh
100 1 $aDyson, George,$d1953-
245 10 $aTuring's cathedral :$bthe origins of the digital universe /$cGeorge Dyson.
260 $aNew York :$bPantheon Books,$c2012.
263 $a1202
300 $ap. cm.
500 $aIncludes index.
520 $a"Legendary historian and philosopher of science George Dyson vividly re-creates the scenes of focused experimentation, incredible mathematical insight, and pure creative genius that gave us computers, digital television, modern genetics, models of stellar evolution--in other words, computer code. In the 1940s and '50s, a group of eccentric geniuses--led by John von Neumann--gathered at the newly created Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey. Their joint project was the realization of the theoretical universal machine, an idea that had been put forth by mathematician Alan Turing. This group of brilliant engineers worked in isolation, almost entirely independent from industry and the traditional academic community. But because they relied exclusively on government funding, the government wanted its share of the results: the computer that they built also led directly to the hydrogen bomb. George Dyson has uncovered a wealth of new material about this project, and in bringing the story of these men and women and their ideas to life, he shows how the crucial advancements that dominated twentieth-century technology emerged from one computer in one laboratory, where the digital universe as we know it was born"--$cProvided by publisher.
520 $a"Legendary historian and philosopher of science George Dyson vividly re-creates the scenes of focused experimentation, incredible mathematical insight, and pure creative genius that gave us computers, digital television, modern genetics, models of stellar evolution--in other words, computer code"--$cProvided by publisher.
650 0 $aComputers$xHistory.
650 0 $aTuring machines.
650 0 $aComputable functions.
650 0 $aRandom access memory.
600 10 $aVon Neumann, John,$d1903-1957.
600 10 $aTuring, Alan Mathison,$d1912-1954.
650 7 $aSCIENCE / General.$2bisacsh
650 7 $aBIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Science & Technology.$2bisacsh
856 42 $3Cover image$u978-0-375-42277-5.jpg