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Birmingham Branch, British Computer Society Events; 2008-2009

News

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BLETCHLEY PARK & THE BATTLE OF THE ATLANTIC

An illustrated presentation by Dr Mark Baldwin (www.enigmatixuk.com)

Tuesday 16th September 2008 - 18.00 for 18.30 - Lord Knights Suite, Tally Ho Sports & Conference Centre, Pershore Road, Birmingham B5 7RN

One of the Second World War's most fascinating stories, is that of the Enigma machine, a portable encryption device widely used by the Germans, which they believed to be totally secure.  Nevertheless, by mathematical analysis and modern technology (and a certain amount of good luck), the Allies devised techniques for 'breaking' Enigma codes, and thus read hundreds of thousands of German messages, providing a wealth of reliable intelligence.

Much of this work was carried out at Bletchley Park, today open to the public as a museum site, which explains and illustrates the history of the of the attack on Enigma, initiated by the Poles in the 1930s and later perfected by the British.  The intelligence gained was of immense value to the Allies in virtually every theatre of war, but nowhere more so than in the Battle of the Atlantic, that gruelling conflict which lasted nearly six years at a cost of over 60,000 allied lives.  Dr Baldwin uses the Battle of the Atlantic to exemplify the importance of code breaking in winning the war.  The efforts to break Enigma and other German codes in the 1940s are also historically important as precursors to the modern discipline of computer science.

After the lecture, the audience are invited to take part in a hands-on practical demonstration of one of the few surviving Enigma machines.  Only about 200 are known to survive worldwide; of these, only about a dozen are in public collections in Britain. There is no other machine on tour, so Dr Baldwin is providing a unique opportunity for the audience not just to view, but also to operate, an original 4-rotor Enigma machine, made for the U-Boat service in 1944.  This is of particular interest, as there is no working machine on permanent public display anywhere in England north of Bletchley Park, and nowhere at all in Wales, Scotland or Ireland.

Agenda

18:00 - 18:30 Light refreshments (tea or coffee with biscuits)
18:30 - 20:00 The Enigma Machine Presentation
20:00 - 20:30 Questions & Answers

Please contact Chris Green, chrisgreen430@hotmail.com, by 5th September 2008 if you intend to be present at this event, so we can advise the caterers of the correct numbers requiring refreshments.

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VISIONS OF COMPUTER SCIENCE
 

Imperial College London, September 22-24 2008

The programme

The first BCS international academic conference has announced its programme, which features seven ACM Turing Award winners. The event promises to be a fascinating in-depth discussion of key issues in the realm of computer science today. The topics have been set deliberately broad to reflect the rich texture and intellectual vigour of current computer science.

Day one highlights include:

Michael Rabin on 'Practically Efficient Zero Knowledge Proofs of Correctness of Computations and Financial Cryptography'.

Joseph Sifakis on 'Component-based Construction of Heterogeneous Real-time Systems in BIP.'

Richard M Karp on 'Understanding Science through the Lens of Computation.'

Day one sessions are on 'AI and semantic web' and 'Automata and algorithms'.


Day two highlights:

Fran Allen on 'Languages and Compilers for the New Parallel Systems,'

Tony Hoare on 'A Vision for the Science of Computing.'

Day two sessions are on 'Medical and bioinformatics', 'Logics and foundations of computation', 'Decentralised complex systems', 'Computer vision and pattern recognition', 'Computer architecture and digital systems' and more.

 
Day three highlights:

Vint Cerf on 'Research Issues and the Internet.'

Robin Milner on 'The space and motion of large systems.'

Day three sessions cover: 'Networks', 'Programming languages' and 'Grand challenges'. There will also be a discussion session on 'Visions for Computer Science'.

 
More information on the programme:
http://www.bcs.org/server.php?show=nav.10114


"Visions of computer science" takes place at Imperial College London, September 22-24 2008.

Book your place here: http://www.bcs.org/visions

There are special rates for students, BCS members and IET members.

Speaker biographies:
http://www.bcs.org/server.php?show=ConWebDoc.19111

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The Professional Institute Network, West Midlands (PINWM)

You can read more about PIN WM at http://www.pinwm.co.uk/about.aspx and about events being organised by PIN WM members at http://www.pinwm.co.uk/courses.aspx.

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Staffordshire University Diary of Business, Computing and E-Commerce around Staffordshire and Neighbourhood

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