On the week of his 100th birthday, we celebrate the mathematician’s life. June 23 marks the 100th birthday of Alan Turing. If I had to name five people whose personal efforts led to the defeat of Nazi Germany, the English mathematician would surely be on my list. Turing’s genius played a key role in helping the …
Continue reading “The highly productive habits of Alan Turing”
It began with a frustrated blogpost by a distinguished mathematician. Tim Gowers and his colleagues had been grumbling among themselves for several years about the rising costs of academic journals. They, like many other academics, were upset that the work produced by their peers, and funded largely by taxpayers, sat behind the paywalls of private …
Continue reading “An angry math blog sparked a scientific revolution”