He also invented the LU decomposition method in 1948, used today for solving matrix equations.
Pattern formation and mathematical biology
Turing worked from 1952 until his death in 1954 on mathematical biology, specifically morphogenesis. He published one paper on the subject called Morphogenesis in 1952, putting forth the Turing hypothesis of pattern formation. His central interest in the field was understanding Fibonacci phyllotaxis, the existence of Fibonacci numbers in plant structures. He used reaction-diffusion equations which are central to the field of pattern formation. Later papers went unpublished until 1992 when Collected Works of A. M. Turing was published. His contribution is considered a seminal piece of work in this field. Overexpression of Hox genes causes an increased number of digits( up to 14) in mice, demonstrating a Turing-type mechanism in the development of the hand.
Recognition and tributes
The Chemical Basis of
A biography published by the Royal Society shortly after Turing ' s death, while his wartime work was still subject to the Official Secrets Act, recorded:
Three remarkable papers written just before the war, on three diverse mathematical subjects, show the quality of the work that might have been produced if he had settled down to work on some big problem at that critical time. For his work at the Foreign Office he was awarded the OBE.
Breaking the Code is a 1986 play by Hugh Whitemore about Alan Turing. The play ran in London ' s West End beginning in November 1986 and on Broadway from 15 November 1987 to 10 April 1988. There was also a 1996 BBC television production( broadcast in the United States by PBS). In all three performances Turing was played by Derek Jacobi. The Broadway production was nominated for three Tony Awards including Best Actor in a Play, Best Featured Actor in a Play, and Best Direction of a Play, and for two Drama DeskAwards, for BestActor and Best FeaturedActor.
On 23 June 1998, on what would have been Turing ' s 86th birthday, his biographer, Andrew Hodges, unveiled an official English Heritage blue plaque at his birthplace and childhood home in Warrington Crescent, London, later the Colonnade Hotel. To mark the 50th anniversary of his death, a memorial plaque was unveiled on 7 June 2004 at his former residence, Hollymeade, in Wilmslow, Cheshire.
On 13 March 2000, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines issued a set of postage stamps to celebrate the greatest achievements of the 20th century, one of which carries a portrait of Turing against a background of repeated 0s and 1s, and is captioned: " 1937: Alan Turing ' s theory of digital
1 computing ". On 1 April 2003, Turing ' s work at Bletchley Park was named an IEEE Milestone.-^ On 28 October 2004, a bronze statue of Alan Turing sculpted by John W. Mills was unveiled at the University of Surrey in Guildford, marking the 50th anniversary of Turing ' s death; it portrays him
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