Communications of the ACM
Alan Turing Manuscript Sells for $1 Million
A manuscript handwritten by computer scientist Alan Turing has sold at auction for more than $1 million.
Credit: James Martin/CNET
A 56-page handwritten manuscript by mathematician and computer scientist Alan Turing has sold at auction for more than $1 million. The manuscript is considered to be the most extensive handwritten manuscript of Turing's still in existence.
Turing apparently wrote in the notebook in 1942, during his time working to break German military codes at Bletchley Park, England. Turing's writing in the notebook relates to the foundations of mathematical notation and computer science. Cassandra Hatton, senior specialist at the Bonhams auction house, says the writing may have been part of Turing's efforts to create a universal computer language. "He's studying the work of many other people who were working on universal languages and I think it's because Turing himself was thinking about working on a universal language," Hatton says.
Turing left the notebook and the rest of his papers to his friend and fellow mathematician Robin Gandy, who subsequently wrote his own private journal in the middle pages of the notebook.
The current owner of the notebook was not disclosed by Bonhams. The final bid for the notebook was $1,025,000 from a collector who wished to remain anonymous. Bonhams says a portion of the auction proceeds will go to charity.
From CIO UK
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