Watch the video again. Number sentences a–f in the order you hear them on the video

1) Charles Babbage was dreaming of a general symbolic machine.

2) The dream of mechanizing human knowledge was inspired by developments over 300 years ago.

3) A young Claude Shannon completed a master’s thesis describing a clever insight he had about telephone relays.

4) But deeper problems emerged.

5) At first even the most advanced machines were limited to one specific task.

6) In 1936 Alan Turing bridged this divide.

 

After watching

1. Put the sentences in the correct order to summarize the main ideas of the video. (see Reference materials: Summary)

1) Around a hundred years ago a collision between Math and Philosophy happened.

2) Nevertheless, in 1936 Alan Turing revolutionized our understanding about what machines can and cannot do.

3) Some years later a young Claude Shannon built the universal computer powered by electrical clocks that buzzed away at near the speed of light and followed any instructions you provide.

4) In spite of the fact that gradually machines replicated human actions replicating human mental processes remained the stuff of dreams.

5) It was Charles Babbage who had a burning ambition to build a general symbolic machine that could answer any questions.

6) The developments of the Industrial revolution inspired the dream of mechanizing human knowledge.

7) And many outstanding scientists tried to contribute to the development of Computer Science.

8) However his final dream was never realized.

9) As a result the science of computation emerged.

10) He outlined blueprints for what he called a universal machine.

11) At first even the most advanced machines were limited to one specific task.

12) This gave birth to a new field of Computer Science.

 

 

2. Answer the questions. Speak about the historical background of your field of study using the structures below:

1) What field of science are you currently working or studying in?

2) What does it deal with?

3) What do you know about the evolution of your field of science?

1. …….. has been widely studied.

2. It deals with / considers ……...

3. The first studies were made in …...

4. It was ….. who contributed a lot to the development of ….. by …...

5. ….. laid the foundation for …...

6. The next great area of investigation was …...

7. …. work was also the starting point for …..

8. … led to the development of ….

9. In …. observations in … were concerned with …...

10. Eventually …… came into being.

Glossary

1) Charles Babbage, a brilliant polymath, is remembered today as the first man to build a computing machine. He helped found the Astronomical Society and came to be interested in creating a calculating machine. He built a small machine that could compute squares. This helped him acquire funds from the British government for the Difference Engine, but it could not be completed. In his second attempt, he designed a more complicated machine called the Analytical Engine, which was programmed using punched cards. He designed an open submarine in which four people could survive for a couple of days.

 

2) Alan Turing is a famous British mathematician.He is considered the father of Artificial Intelligence and has contributed immensely to the field of mathematics.This scientist is known for having pioneered the concept of modern-day computers, by introducing the idea of a ‘Turing Machine’, which is simple, and yet capable of solving any form of algorithms that can be measured and quantified.

3) Claude Elwood Shannon is an American mathematician, electrical engineer, and cryptographer known as "the father of information theory".Shannon is noted for having founded information theory with a landmark paper, A Mathematical Theory of Communication. He is, perhaps, equally well known for founding digital circuit design theory in 1937, as a 21-year-old master's degree student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Shannon contributed to the field of cryptanalysis for national defense during World War II, including his fundamental work on codebreaking and secure telecommunications.

 

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