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by gilleain 595 days ago
Ok, and if I asked a random member of the public for the name of a mathematician (excepting Turing, for clarity) what name do you think they would come up with? Pythagoras? Euler? Erdős?

I think the reality is that only a very small number of scientists, mathematicians, and similar are household names.
2 comments
ggm 595 days ago
People's conception of Turing is massively skewed by the ending. His persona is now defined by his sexuality and treatment more than his contributions to maths and computer science. Andrew Hodges book is great. I had the fortune to go to his author tour the year it came out, he was doing the compsci departments of the UK and it was a really nice seminar.

Benedic Cumbersome was a good actor, but it's important to remember Michelangelo actually didn't look like Kirk Douglas.

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geodel 595 days ago
I like that you called Benedict 'Cumbersome'. He is indeed cumbersome in so many roles.
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ggm 595 days ago
I read a review in the Guardian [1] which used a series of malapropisms for his name, and riffed on the concept.

[1] https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/article/2024/may/29...

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gpderetta 595 days ago
Also his contribution to the war might be one of the biggest reason he is well known.
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seanhunter 595 days ago
Right - For every Newton, who (rightly) gets credit for his immense contributions, there are people like Euler, who are relatively unknown outside the field in spite of significant contributions[1].

[1] Massive in the case of Euler obviously.

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drcwpl 595 days ago
Agreed - what I tried to highlight through a series about people that have contributed significantly, but are not so well known outside of the fields they impacted, there is always cooperation to a large extent and others involved - rarely a lone individual as the Turing movie and much of the press in the UK likes to portray. And many people, who should be known, get lost in the complexity of history. It's worth bringing the attention of this to a wider audience - people are genuinely inquisitive. Plus as another example, on an intro course to AI 45 out of 52 bachelor students had never heard of Church!
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