TURING_ALAN_MATHISON_SUPPLEMENT
THE ROYAL COMMISSION ON HISTORICAL MANUSCRIPTS
Report on further correspondence and papers of
ALAN MATHISON TURING
(1912-1954)
mathematician
deposited in
King's College Library, Cambridge
Reproduced for the Contemporary Scientific Archives Centre
London WC2A 1HP
CCSAG* 104 /17'8:59
THE ROYAL COMMISSION ON HISTORICAL MANUSCRIPTS
Quality House, Quality Court, Chancery Lane,
CSAC 104/1/85
CONTEMPORARY SCIENTIFIC ARCHIVES CENTRE
British National Committeefor the History of Science, Medicine and Technology
under the guidance of the Royal Society’s
Supplementary catalogue of papers and correspondence of
ALAN MATHISON TURING FRS
(1912 - 1954)
Material additional to CSAC 53/7/77
All rights reserved
Deposited in the Library of King's College, Cambridge
Compiled by
Jeannine Alton and Peter Harper
1985
A.M. Turing (Supplement)
CSAC 104/1/85
The work of the Contemporary Scientific Archives Centre, and the
production of this catalogue, are made possible by the support of the following
societies and institutions:
The Biochemical Society
The Charles Babbage Foundation for the History of Information
Processing
The Institute of Physics
The Institution of Electrical Engineers
The Nuffield Foundation
The Rhodes Trustees
The Royal Society of London
The Institution of Mechanical Engineers
The Wolfson Foundation
A.M. Turing (Supplement)
CSAC 104/1/85
LIST OF CONTENTS
Items
INTRODUCTION
SECTION A
BIOGRAPHICAL AND PERSONAL
A.14 - A.33
SECTION B
PUBLICATIONS
SECTION C
UNPUBLISHED NOTES AND DRAFTS
SECTION D
CORRESPONDENCE
INDEX OF CORRESPONDENTS
A.M. Turing (Supplement)
CSAC 104/185
INTRODUCTION
PROVENANCE
The material has been assembled from several sources over the period 1977 - 84,
as follows:
A.14 - A.33 and B.9, from the estate of Mrs. Sara Turing after her death in 1977;
C.24 - C.27 from N.E. Hoskin, received 1978;
C23; DES. - DB; 10, from Professor I. J. Good (photocopies from originals in his possession),
received 1979;
D.11 - D.14 from Dr. A. Hodges, author of the biography Alan Turing: The Enigma,
received 1983;
B.8 from Professor C.B. Jones, received 1984.
PRESENTATION
The material has been organised, numbered and sectionalised to follow the
sequence of the cctalogue compiled in 1977 (CSAC 53/7/77)
DESCRIPTION
death.
It has proved intractable so far to researchers. Hodges writes (p.494):
The biographical and personal material in Section A was all received from the
estate of Mrs. Turing and many items bear annotations or corrections by her.
Several
by Heffer of Cambridge in 1959, and include biographical information and recollections.
refer to the preparation and publication of her biography of her son, which was published
The material on morphogenesis at C.24 - C.27 represents a substantial addition
to the documentation of Turing's work and thinking on this topic, left uncompleted at his
Hodges for permission to refer to and quote from his biography of Turing.
"He left behind a mass of detailed material, some organised into the form
of a second paper, the rest in the form of worked examples and of computer
print-outs incomprehensible to anyone else.'
Section D contains photocopied letters and calculations exchanged by Turing
and I. J. Good (D.6- D.10), and some original letters by Turing (D.11 - D.14), most of
them addressed to P. Hall.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Thanks are due to all those who have made documents available, and to Andrew
A.M. Turing (Supplement)
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SECTION A
BIOGRAPHICAL AND PERSONAL
A.14 - A.33
A.14
Obituaries and tributes to Turing: notice in Hazelhurst Gazette
(2 copies, one corrected by Mrs. Turing); translation of sections
about Turing's life and work made in 1967 from a Russian work
The Beginning of Cybernetics, by A. Lerner; 'Caption under Alan's
photo at N.P.L.'
A.15-A.17
Letters received by Mrs. Turing on Turing's death, from colleagues,
schoolmasters, neighbours and friends.
circumstances of Turing's death, and to the inquest.
Several refer to the
3 folders as follows:
Andrews, A.
J.
.
(schoolmaster)
Boles: J.V
7m,
Vo
Bullard. Ei.
C.
Clayton, L.
(Turing's housekeeper)
Jefferson, G.
proprord). t.
S.
Webb, N.
Unidentified
Coote, C.
;
(Daily Telegraph)
(Hazelhurst school)
Darlington, S.
(Hazelhurst school)
Darlington, W.
S.
Greenbaum, F.
M.
Milner-White, E.
(Manchester University)
(Turing's psychoanalyst)
signature, deleted by Mrs. Turing)
(Ip. only with much material, including the
(Turing's neighbour)
A.M. Turing (Supplement)
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Biographical and personal
Letters to Mrs. Turing in answer to requests for information while
preparing her biography, 1957-58.
Jones, |.
Ross, A.
H.
:
(Headmaster, Sherborne)
Scott, Acs
%
Unidentified or incomplete
A.19-A.22
Letters to Mrs. Turing from readers of her biography, several with
recollections or appreciations of Turing.
4 folders as follows:
Darlington, W._
S.
Gants.
-O:
Gepp, (incomplete)
Hailperin, T.
MacPhail, M.
(school-friend)
(school-friend)
Gervis, R.
(schoo! mistress)
Hogg, P.
ott, t.
Loveday, E.
G.
(Turing's visits to America in 1940s)
(recollections of Turing's work and friends in
America)
(morphogenesis)
(Headmaster, Sherborne)
Randolph, J.-H.
Robertson, A.
D.
J.
(N.P.L.; morphogenesis)
SIOney;, Es
Ges
Seth, M.-C.
Thom, R.
(schoolmaster)
(Turing's uncle)
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A. 23
Miscellaneous later letters to Mrs. Turing about Turing.
Biographical and personal
Clifford, G..
-D.
Jones, W.
‘
Routledge, N.
Sutherland, N.S.
1969
1960
1968
1968
Miscellaneous material re the A.M. Turing Award, instituted by the
Association of Computing Machinery (ACM) and first awarded in
Includes printed information, a letter to Mrs. Turing about
1966.
the Award (1974) and S5pp. ms. notes on the subject in the hand of
Mrs. Turing, perhaps prepared for Sherborne School magazine.
Shorter biographical items; includes photograph, and drawing
inscribed by Mrs. Turing 'Alan at Barton House.
Aged 6?'
A. 26-A.30
Letters to Turing, 1931-51.
In chronological
1930
1931
1¥a0
Election to Fellowship, King's College.
Award of scholarship to King's College, Cambridge
(from Turing's grand=mother)
Letter from G. O'Hanlon on Turing's leaving Sherborne
and award of Goodman Scholarship (copy made by Mrs. Turing).
Mainly letters and telegrams of congratulation on various achievements,
some including general information or reflections.
order.
G.
Election as Fellow of the Royal Society.
Award of Smith's Prize, Cambridge.
Cooper, W.
M.
A. 28
Bullard, Bs
oe.
Darlington, W.
S.
A. 27
A. 28- A. 30
1936
1951]
Darwin, C.
A.M. Turing (Supplement)
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Biographical and personal
Goodwin, E.
T.
Jefferson, G.
Lockspeiser, B.
Mahler, K.
Routledge, N.
Thompson, R.
S.
Turing, S.
A.31-A. 33
Material relating to Mrs. Turing's
biography.
Notes and information on Turing family.
Reviews of book.
A.31
A.32
A.33
Correspondence re possible German edition, and proposed publication
of 'Collected Works', 1971-72.
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SECTIONB
PUBLICATIONS
B.8, B.9
B.8
"Checking a large routine'
This was a paper given by Turing on 24 June 1949 at the inaugural
conference of the EDSAC computer at the Mathematical Laboratory,
Cambridge, and published in the Report of a Conference on High
Speed Automatic Calculating Machines, pp.67-69.
published contained several transcription errors, and a corrected
version, with comments, was published by F.L. Morris and C.B. Jones
in Annals of the History of Computing, 6, April 1984.
The paper as
Folder includes photocopy of the 1949 paper and of the 1984 version
underthe title 'An Early Program Proof by Alan Turing', made
available by courtesy of the authors.
‘Computing machinery and intelligence’
Typescript copy of article published in MIND, LIX, October 1956.
In Mrs. Turing's ring~backed binder with ms. title by her.
The paper is paginated 2-40 and also 146-184.
There is a footnote
added between pp.159 and 160 with a ms. note in Turing's hand.
A.M. Turing (Supplement)
CSAC 104/1/85
SECTION C
UNPUBLISHED MANUSCRIPTS AND DRAFTS
C.23 - C.27
23
‘Two contour-integral proofs', 'Ingham's proof’, 'Another proof!
Ms. notes and calculations by Turing.
These are photocopies, paginated 3 and 4, of papers made available
from his own archives by |.J. Good; p.3 hasams. note by Good
'A note by Turing for I.J. Good, c.1943' and p.4 is addressed to him
at 'Hut 11' (at Bletchley Park).
C.24-C.27
Work on morphogenesis.
Folders of notes, calculations and diagrams, received from N.E. Hoskin
in 1978 and additional to the material on the subject listed as C.7-C.10
on p.15 of the handlist compiled in 1977.
extensive notes and drafts left at Turing's death which some of his
colleagues (R.O. Gandy, N.E. Hoskin, B. Richards) intended to prepare
for publication.
The papers are part of the
The material is entirely Turing's autograph manuscript and typescript,
with many additions and corrections;
calculations and computer routines.
are used; many pages have other work on the verso.
material constitutes relatively substantial paginated sequences; some
consists of random pages which could not be assigned a definite place
or description by Turing's collaborators and colleagues.
it includes diagrams, tables,
Sometimes both sides of the paper
Someof the
Folder inscribed 'Morphogens. Turing |'
With a ms. note by Gandy: 'This contains consecutive pieces which
were not incorporated by Hoskin and Richards in their paper’.
All titles and descriptions in inverted commas are those which appear
Later notes or comments in the hands of Hoskin
on the manuscripts.
and Gandy are identified and indicated wherever possible.
27pp., unnumbered.
Substantial set of drafts and calculations, with Turing's separate page
heading 'STABILITY AND APPROXIMATIONS'
l3pp. sequence, unnumbered, witha ms. note 'Does this continue
on?
N.H.' [Hoskin].
Ppp. sequence, unnumbered, beginning ‘Effect of quadratic terms’.
Includes:
‘Outline of development of the Daisy’
12pp. numbered by Gandy
8pp. sequence, unnumbered.
A.M. Turing (Supplement)
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C25
Folder inscribed 'Morphogen.
Theory of Phyllotaxis.
Turing 2'
Unpublished notes and drafts
With a ms. note by Gandy: 'This is the draft from which Hoskin
and Richards prepared their paper Part | (which follows the draft
rather closely.
Passages in light blue are | think by Hoskin)!
Includes:
72pp. draft, numbered in another hand.
The draft is Turing's typescript, with many ms. revisions in his hand,
usually in black ink but occasionally in pencil.
markings appear in another hand, in blue ink and pencil, and there is
also some linking material on separately numbered pages, e.g. 26a, 57a.
Other corrections and
2pp. unnumbered ms. headed 'Stability of 2nd. order equations’.
Diagrams of florets in flower head, numbered and annotated by Turing.
Photograph of flower head.
Ms. heading for a plate (in another hand).
22pp. draft, numbered in another hand.
The
draft is Turing's typescript, with many revisions in his hand, in
The title ‘Part Il Chemical Theory of Morphogenesis' on p.1, ond
Includes :
black ink.
Folder inscribed 'Chemical Theory of Morphogenesis. Turing 3'
With a ms. note by Gandy: ‘Part Il of draft used by Hoskin and Richards’.
other corrections, revisions and linking material, appear passim in another
hand, in blue-black ink.
and another (in blue ink).
Ms. draft, pages numbered 19-28 in another hand, beginning: ‘Effects
of randomdisturbances', with ms. corrections by Turing (in black ink)
2pp. draft for '4.
8 4 but should be included here even though incomplete. N.H.'
"Noise" effects', with a ms. note by Hoskin: ‘Another
A.M. Turing (Supplement)
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Manel
Folder inscribed ‘Turing 4'.
Unpublished notes and drafts
With a ms. note by Gandy: 'It will be difficult, in some places im-
possible, to know exactly what these fragments are (exactly) about.'
Inside the folder is a note by Hoskin: 'I have not been able to fit in
any of the following notes in the main articles.
In many cases there
are other notes, presumably superseded, on the reverse of these pages.
Some of these are not sequential. '
Many of these drafts are on the verso of programme sheets for Manchester
University Computing Machine Laboratory, and some carry routines
related to the themes of the mss. and perhaps intended to test them.
The material is in the form of bundles clipped together, some with
Turing's heading or description, and have been left as received.
Includes:
'FIRCONES.
Paper Theory'
l4pp. drafts, notes, calculations.
"KJELL Theory'
"KJELL PREP TRACK PAIRS'
3pp. notes and calculations, with computer routine 'OUTERFIR',
perhaps related to above, and Ip. notes for modification of OUTERFIR
program.
7pp. drafts, notes and calculations, p.7 contains a ‘family tree’ of
computer routines related to the work, several of which appear in the
various bundles of notes in this folder.
Continued
22pp. drafts, notes and calculations, in ink and pencil, with many
revisions and corrections; some pages used on both sides, and some
top and bottom.
‘Diagrams etc.'
10pp. notes, diagrams and calculations, including computerroutines,
3pp. draft on 'golden lattice',
Turing for work on morphogenesis.
Ip. table of flower species used by
7pp. untitled notes, calculations, diagrams.
I17pp. untitled notes, calculations and diagrams, manyonlattices.
A.M. Turing (Supplement)
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Unpublishednotes and drafts
C.27 (Cont'd.)
Spp. notes, signed B.R. [Bernard Richards] on ‘Morphogenesis of
Cellular Structure’.
‘Evidence relating to the diffusion reaction theory of morphogenesis’.
lSpp. +1p. references.
ms. note at head 'Rough draft.
A.M. Turing’.
Typescript of paper by C.W. Wardlaw, with
Ip. ms. note by Turing.
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SECTION D
D.6-D.14
CORRESPONDENCE
D.6-D.70
Letters and material exchanged with |.J. Good, and later corres-
pondence of Good with Mrs. Turing, 1946-53.
material made available by Good from his own archives (see also
C.23).
Turing signs his letter 'Prof' and is so addressed by Good.
Photocopied
Letter from Turing to Good commenting on the manuscript of Good's
Probability and the Weighing of Evidence (published 1950).
October 1946.
Correspondence on the number of neurons in the brain, 25, 28, 31] July,
16, 18 September 1948.
playing machines.
The Septemberletters also refer to chess-
Letter from Good to Turing, with a ms. note ‘Turing did not answer
this letter', October 1948.
Brief exchange re publication of paper by Good on population frequencies
(Biometrika, 40, 1953), February 1953.
Page references are given inbrackets.
(d. 1982) was Turing's tutor at King's and became a lifelong friend.
D.11-D.13
Letters from Turing to P. Hall.
Later correspondence with Mrs. Turing, mainly on the writing and
publication of her biography, 1957-58.
These are all autograph manuscript letters, made available by A. Hodges
who used them in whole or in part in his biography Alan Turing: the
PhilipHall FRS—
Letters exchanged with Mrs. Turing in reply to her request for informa-
tion and recollections about Turing; with various reminiscences,
including references to Turing's buried silver. November-December 1956.
almost periodicity’, J. Lond.Math.Soc., 10) (Hodges p.94).
1935
Letter of 4 April refers toa 'small-scale
discovery’ by Turing (published as ‘Equivalence of left and right hand
4 April, 30 May.
A.M. Turing (Supplement)
CSAC 104/1/85
Correspondence
22 November
(Hodges,
4 April
(Hodges,
30 March
(Hodges,
26 April
(Hodges,
ian.
(Hodges,
All addressed from Princeton.
n.d. 1951]
(Hodges, p.440)
n.d., postmarked 17 April 1952 (Hodges, p.473)
Letter to P.H.F. Mermagen (contemporary at Sherborne, d.1985),
n.d. ¢.1947 (Hodges, pp.362-3).
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INDEX OF CORRESPONDENTS
ANDREWS, As
..-d.
P,
BACHMAN, Charles W.
Bee Joka ay.
BULLARD, Sir Edward (Crisp)
CLAYTON, L.
CLIFFORD, G.
D.
COOPER, W.
M.
COOTE, Sir Colin (Reith)
DARLINGTON, Sophy
DARLINGTON, W.
S.
DARWIN, Sir Charles Galton
GANDY, Robin O.
GEPP,
GERVIS, Ruth
e o>
P
24
e
e
75
e
e
a
so
ae
“£0
a5
>
16
«16; ASI9, A: 28
28
3%
19
-1e
GOODWIN EsacTs
HALL, Philip
HOGG, Peter
HOLT, Oliver
A.29
A.
16
A.
20
HAILPERIN, Theodore
GREENBAUM, Franz M.
JEFFERSON, Sir Geoffrey
GOOD, Irving John (Jack)
ws 6-D.10
See also C.23
hae
MERMAGEN, Patrick Hassell Frederick
MILNER-WHITE, Eric
san
20
18
23
MACPHAIL, Malcolm
JONES, Ivor
JONES, Will T.
LOCKSPEISER, Sir Ben
LOVEDAY, Evelyn V.
MAHLER, Kurt
See D.11-D::13
16; Aver
A.M. Turing (Supplement)
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Index of correspondents
NOWELL SMITH,
see SMITH, N.C.
O'HANLON, Geoffrey
RANDOLPH, J.
H.
ROBERTSON, Anthony D.
J.
ROSS, A.
H.
Trelawney
ROUTLEDGE, Norman
SCOTT: Avs
1%
SMITH, C.
Nowell
BeONEY 5:6:
Gy
STOPFORD, John Sebastian Bach, Baron
SUTHERLAND, N.
Stuart
THOM, René
THOMPSON, R.__
S.
TURING, Sara
WEBB, N.
18
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