A man who believed in machines

"A computer would deserve to be called intelligent if it could deceive a human into believing that it was human."

This is one of the most influential quote in the last century. The man who said this believed that by year 2000. A.D, everybody will believe in the capabilities of computers of creating something new, who always thought that machines do whatever they were told to do. 
He was highly influential in the development of computer science, providing a formalisation of the concepts of "algorithm" and "computation" with his brilliant idea. He was a  mathematician, logician, cryptanalyst, philosopher, pioneering computer scientist, mathematical biologist, and marathon and ultra distance runner. In 1999, Time Magazine named him as one of the 100 Most Important People of the 20th century.
He was none other than Alan Turing.  Turing is widely considered to be the father of theoretical computer science and artificial intelligence.

He paved the way to concepts of algorithm and computation, by giving birth to theoretical computer science and artificial intelligence.

In his early life, he worked for government decrypting the enemy ciphers. His intelligence and diligent efforts were even praised by Winston Churchill. His pivotal role in cracking  intercepted coded messages enabled the Allies to defeat the Nazis in several crucial battles. It has been estimated that the work at Bletchley Park shortened the war in Europe by as many as two to four years.

After the war, he worked at the National Physical Laboratory, where he designed the ACE, among the first designs for a stored-program computer. In 1948 Turing joined Max Newman's Computing Laboratory at Manchester University, where he assisted development of the Manchester computers and became interested in mathematical biology. He wrote a paper on the chemical basis of morphogenesis, and predicted oscillating chemical reactions such as the Belousov–Zhabotinsky reaction, first observed in the 1960s.

This famous scientist was born in Paddington, London, while his father, Julius Mathison Turing (1873–1947), was on leave from his position with the Indian Civil Service (ICS) at Chhatrapur, Bihar and Orissa Province, in British India. Very early in life, Turing showed signs of the genius that he was later to display prominently.

In his early age, Turing continued to show remarkable ability in the studies he loved, solving advanced problems in 1927 without having studied even elementary calculus. In 1928, aged 16, Turing encountered Albert Einstein's work; not only did he grasp it, but he extrapolated Einstein's questioning of Newton's laws of motion from a text in which this was never made explicit.

In 1928, German mathematician David Hilbert had called attention to the Entscheidungsproblem (decision problem). In his momentous paper "On Computable Numbers, with an Application to the Entscheidungs problem" (submitted on 28 May 1936 and delivered 12 November), Turing reformulated Kurt Gödel's 1931 results on the limits of proof and computation, replacing Gödel's universal arithmetic-based formal language with the formal and simple hypothetical devices that became known as Turing machines. He proved that some such machine would be capable of performing any conceivable mathematical computation if it were representable as an algorithm. He went on to prove that there was no solution to the Entscheidungsproblem by first showing that the halting problem for Turing machines is undecidable: in general, it is not possible to decide algorithmically whether a given Turing machine will ever halt. Von Neumann acknowledged that the central concept of the modern computer was due to this paper. Turing machines are to this day a central object of study in theory of computation.

In 1948, he was appointed Reader in the Mathematics Department at the University of Manchester. In 1949, he became Deputy Director of the Computing Laboratory there, working on software for one of the earliest stored-program computers—the Manchester Mark 1. During this time he continued to do more abstract work in mathematics, and in "Computing machinery and intelligence" (Mind, October 1950), Turing addressed the problem of artificial intelligence, and proposed an experiment which became known as the Turing test, an attempt to define a standard for a machine to be called "intelligent". The idea was that a computer could be said to "think" if a human interrogator could not tell it apart, through conversation, from a human being. In the paper, Turing suggested that rather than building a program to simulate the adult mind, it would be better rather to produce a simpler one to simulate a child's mind and then to subject it to a course of education. A reversed form of the Turing test is widely used on the Internet; the CAPTCHA test is intended to determine whether the user is a human or a computer. 

In 1948, Turing, working with his former undergraduate colleague, D. G. Champernowne, began writing a chess program for a computer that did not yet exist. By 1950, the program was completed and dubbed the Turbochamp. In 1952, he tried to implement it on a Ferranti Mark 1, but lacking enough power, the computer was unable to execute the program. Instead, Turing played a game in which he simulated the computer, taking about half an hour per move. The game was recorded. The program lost to Turing's colleague Alick Glennie, although it is said that it won a game against Champernowne's wife. His Turing test was a significant, characteristically provocative and lasting contribution to the debate regarding artificial intelligence, which continues after more than half a century.

He also invented the LU decomposition method in 1948, used today for solving matrix equations.

Let me put some light on Turing machine. A Turing machine is a hypothetical device that manipulates symbols on a strip of tape according to a table of rules. Despite its simplicity, a Turing machine can be adapted to simulate the logic of any computer algorithm, and is particularly useful in explaining the functions of a CPU inside a computer.

The "Turing" machine was invented in 1936 by Alan Turing who called it an "a-machine" (automatic machine). The Turing machine is not intended as practical computing technology, but rather as a hypothetical device representing a computing machine. Turing machines help computer scientists understand the limits of mechanical computation.

In his 1948 essay, "Intelligent Machinery", Turing wrote that his machine consisted of:

...an unlimited memory capacity obtained in the form of an infinite tape marked out into squares, on each of which a symbol could be printed. At any moment there is one symbol in the machine; it is called the scanned symbol. The machine can alter the scanned symbol and its behavior is in part determined by that symbol, but the symbols on the tape elsewhere do not affect the behavior of the machine. However, the tape can be moved back and forth through the machine, this being one of the elementary operations of the machine. Any symbol on the tape may therefore eventually have an innings. (Turing 1948, p. 3)

A Turing machine that is able to simulate any other Turing machine is called a universal Turing machine (UTM, or simply a universal machine). A more mathematically oriented definition with a similar "universal" nature was introduced by Alonzo Church, whose work on lambda calculus intertwined with Turing's in a formal theory of computation known as the Church–Turing thesis. The thesis states that Turing machines indeed capture the informal notion of effective methods in logic and mathematics, and provide a precise definition of an algorithm or "mechanical procedure". Studying their abstract properties yields many insights into computer science and complexity theory.

For detailed infor , reader can visit:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turing_machine

Indian Mars Mission, so cheap!

India’s Mars orbiter mission tells the world that the more technology was denied the more determined the country became to master space technologies. India has created global history by becoming the first Asian nation to reach the Mars orbit in a space mission. The success is sweeter because this has been done in its maiden attempt. No other country that has attempted a mission to Mars has succeeded in reaching the planet on debut. So, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) can claim that it has done a shade better than accomplished space powers such as the United States and Russia in reaching Mars. 

India took a giant step towards to making its first manned space mission after it successfully launched its latest rocket with a crew module for astronauts. The testing of its Geostationary Launch Vehicle [GSLV] capped a triumphant year for its Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) which completed the cheapest ever mission to Mars in September. It entered the Martian orbit only a day after the American Maven mission but was £365 million cheaper.

India’s prime minister Narendra Modi had joked that it was £13 million cheaper than the Hollywood space hit Gravity starring George Clooney and Sandra Bullock. 

The new rocket was substantially more expensive, taking a decade and $400 million (£256 million) to develop, but it marks a significant breakthrough in the race to send Indian astronauts into space and eventually make a lunar landing.

Ajay Lele, a defence researcher and the author of Mission Mars: India’s Quest for the Red Planet said the successful launch was a key stage towards launching manned missions but warned it could be another ten years before it achieves its ambition.

“It is a significant development but we were a bit euphoric about it. GSLV is a suborbital launch vehicle and has only passed the liquid and solid engine test. We will need another two years to test the cryogenic (liquid gas) engine”, he said “So far we have been able to carry a payload of three to four tons and to send a manned mission we need higher pay load capacity. If things go well, we are still ten years away from the manned mission”, he said.

But What's So Special About It?

Why everybody lost their mind over this?

On Wednesday, India’s space program signed an agreement with NASA for a joint Earth-observing satellite mission as well as a charter to establish a working group for cooperation on Mars exploration. That comes on the heels of India’s Mars orbiter reaching the red planet’s orbit last week.

India’s Mars spacecraft’s relatively cheap roughly $74 million cost has drawn attention.

NPR’s Geoff Brumfiel has reported that there are several reasons. Among them, according to Brumfiel’s article: less sophistication of the spacecraft compared to NASA’s MAVEN, which also reached Mars orbit last week,  the orbiting path it chose and much lower labor costs.

From the story, which quotes Earth 2 Orbit’s Amaresh Kollipara: First, the spacecraft itself is a lot less sophisticated than its NASA counterpart, and is not designed to last as long. “It’s essentially buying a Honda Civic versus buying a Mercedes S-Class,” Kollipara says. The Indian craft has fewer cameras and scientific doohickeys.

It is orbiting in a big oval with Mars at one end. The downside of that path is that the Indian spacecraft only gets close to Mars once every few days. But fewer firings of the engine meant the Indian spacecraft would need less fuel. That helped keep the weight down to nearly half that of the NASA mission — and that lighter load made it much cheaper to launch.

Secondly, we clearly won the race.

If the 20th century witnessed a “space race” between the U.S. and the USSR, the 21st century is seeing an Asian space race. In most aspects of space technology, China is way ahead of India. It has larger rockets, bigger satellites and several rocket ports. It even launched its first astronaut in space way back in 2003 and has a space laboratory in the making.

In 2008, when India undertook its first mission to moon Chandrayaan-1, China raced ahead and orbited its Chang’e-1 satellite ahead of India. But in this Martian marathon, India has reached the finish line ahead of China. This now puts India in the pole position as far as Asian Martian exploration goes. In 2012, the first Chinese probe to Mars Yinghuo-1 failed. It was riding atop a Russian satellite called Phobos-Grunt. But the Chinese probe failed to even leave earth. Earlier in 1998, a Japanese probe to Mars ran out of fuel.

Today, India’s Mars orbiter mission has shown that the Indian elephant has lumbered ahead of the Chinese red dragon. For the record, ISRO’s chairman Dr. K. Radhakrishnan has gone on record by saying, “We are not racing with anybody. We are racing with ourselves. We have to race to reach the next level of excellence.”

Reasons for this:

To hold costs down, India relied on technologies it has used before and kept the size of the payload small, at 15 kilograms. It saved on fuel by using a smaller rocket to put its spacecraft into Earth orbit first to gain enough momentum to slingshot it toward Mars.

And this Vox story says the spacecraft is mainly a “demonstration of the fact that India has the technology to reach Mars,” but adds that some science will be conducted.

In addition to cameras that will photograph Mars’ surface, it’s equipped with a few different instruments that will analyze the planet’s atmosphere, looking for methane in particular. Scientists believe that, if methane is present, it could be a sign of microbial life. Some previous crafts have detected traces of methane, but the Curiosity rover has failed to find any.

Conclusion

Many have questioned why India should be sending a robotic mission to Mars when there is so much poverty, malnutrition, death, disaster and diseases among its 1.2 billon population. Some have even called this mission as being a part of India’s “delusional dream” of becoming a superpower in the 21st century. There can be nothing farther from the truth. If one analyses the cost of the Mars Orbiter mission of Rs.450 crore, for Indians it works out to be about Rs.4 per person. Today, a bus ride would cost a lot more.

India’s Mars Orbiter mission has paved the way for cheaper and faster inter-planetary probes. 

Mr. Modi, in his stirring speech to ISRO, spoke of its capabilities and efficiencies. It is an eye-opener that a country which can undertake a mission to Mars is unable to provide electricity to 400 million citizens. What is worse is that 600 million Indians still don’t have access to toilets. It is hoped that Mr. Modi would have learnt a lesson or two from the Indian space agency on how to undertake cost-effective projects with no time or cost overruns. 

The Orbiter mission undoubtedly tells the world that India is a space power to reckon with. The more technology was denied to India, the more determined it became to master these technologies.

I just wish after this giant leap and such a marvelous technological advancements, the country men will look back at the dirt spread in the homeland. Both sided development is necessary for any country to progress and become a world power. We have reached Mars, but we are still suffering from the very basic amenities and still struggling with petty issues like women security, etc. Our engineers have once again proved their brilliance to the world and made their mark by their achievement. I wish the technological development we achieved by this achievement, can help and provide useful inputs to eradicate the basic problems we are dealing with.