Gibbons Memorial Lecture Series

The Gibbons Lectures is an annual series of talks given in the Department of Computer Science in association with the New Zealand Computer Society. There will be usually about 4 lectures delivered at weekly intervals in the first semester. The goal of each lecture is to describe detailed developments in a particular research area to a general but technical audience - to Computer Science students at all levels, to IT practitioners in other departments and outside the University. Each year the speakers and topics will be widely advertised well in advance. The first lecture each year will be delivered by a prestigious speaker, often from overseas. The remaining contributors to the series will be from the Computer Science Department or from associated researchers in other departments and institutions in New Zealand.

The lecture series is managed by a subcommittee of the Computer Science Department, chaired by the head of department or nominee. As well as organizing the speakers and the event itself the committee will ensure that the lectures in the series are archived and made available on this website.

The Computer Science Department is committed to funding the Gibbons Lectures in its initial stages. However, the prestige of the lectures and their permanence depends on establishing a permanent source of funding. To that end the department has established a fund that will be built up to provide support. We welcome contributions to the fund. If you would like to contribute, please complete the form and post it to the address provided on the form or you can make a gift online at www.givingtoauckland.org.nz/ and choose Peter Gibbons Lectures Fund.

2012 Gibbons Lectures: The Turing Legacy

The lectures in the Gibbons Lecture Series describe developments in research in Computer Science and are aimed at a general but technical audience - Computer Science students at all levels, IT practitioners in other departments and outside the University.

Alan Matheson Turing was born in 1912. It is now widely accepted that he was one of the most important founders of both theoretical and practical computing, although he died in 1954 just when the field of computing was getting underway. Many of his contributions were not widely recognized at first, but this year, the hundredth anniversary of his birth, he is being celebrated by a series of events organized world-wide. We are joining the festivities by devoting this year's Gibbons lectures to Turing and his influence.

Turing's work was the basis for many areas of computing research and development that are still on-going. We have in New Zealand and our Department researchers who are experts in some of these areas and also experts in Turing and his achievements. The four Gibbons lectures this year will involve "local" speakers discussing four topics in the rough order of Turing's involvement during his lifetime.

The lead lecture for 2012 is by Professor Cristian Calude. He will talk on the Theory of Computing, the first area for which Turing is renowned and where Professor Calude has made many contributions himself. We are lucky to have as our second lecturer Professor Jack Copeland from the University of Canterbury. Professor Copeland is one of the world's leading experts on Turing and will address Turing's secret involvement with Cryptanalysis during WW2. (Please note that this talk has been pre-recorded and will be webcast only.) Turing emerged from the war with a burning interest in building a practical electronic computer - this is covered in the third talk by Professor's Carpenter and Doran of our department who have had a long interest in the origins of computing. As computers started to become available Turing turned his interest to using them to perform intellectual tasks rather than just calculation. He is recognized as the founder of Artificial Intelligence - a subject to be covered in the final lecture by Assoc. Professor Ian Watson of our department.

1. Apr 26: Alan Turing and the Unsolvable Problem: To Halt or Not to Halt - That is the Question - Prof Cristian S. Calude
2. May 3: Alan Turing and the Secret Cyphers: Breaking the German Codes at Bletchley Park - Prof Jack Copeland
   Note: This talk has been pre-recorded and will be webcast only.
3. May 10: Alan Turing and the Computing Engine: Turing's achievements in practical computing - Professor Brian Carpenter & Professor Bob Doran
4. May 17: Alan Turing and the Artificial Brain: The Development of Artificial Intelligence - Assoc Prof Ian Watson

All of the lectures are scheduled for 6pm at the University Conference Centre, 22 Symonds Street except for May 3rd lecture, which will be webcast at that time, then available, like the other lectures, as a podcast to download. The lectures are delivered on Thursdays. Visitors should note that there is ample inexpensive parking under the Owen Glen building, just around the corner in Grafton Road. Please RSVP to robyn@cs.auckland.ac.nz.

The recording of lectures can be found at:

2011: Applying Computer Power

• Apr 27: Computing outside the box - Prof Ian Foster
• May 3: eResearch in New Zealand - Prof Mark Gahegan
• May 11: Co-operating computers - problems and prospects - Prof James Goodman
• May 18: Attached processors for real-time applications - Assoc Prof John Morris

2010: Facing the Data Mountain

• May 5: How the dragons work - Prof Ian Witten
• May 12: Theres gold in them thar mountains - Prof Gillian Dobbie
• May 19: The Health Care Revolution - Alec Holt
• May 26: Internet Challenges - Dr Nevil Brownlee

2009: Computing: From Theory to Practice

• May 13: The Combinatorics at the Heart of the Problem: - Charles Colbourn
• May 20: Making Software Testing Easier: - Myra B. Cohen
• May 27: Developing Darwin's Computer: - Alexei Drummond (Co-sponsored by IEEE Computer Society)
• June 3: Technologies for Deep Learning: - John Hamer, Andrew Luxton-Reilly, Beryl Plimmer

Peter's academic career began at Massey University where he completed a BSc in Mathematics and Statistics with 1st class Honours in 1970. This was followed in 1972 by an MSc in Computer Science with Distinction - the first degree in Computer Science awarded in New Zealand. He completed his PhD in Toronto then returned to New Zealand to lecture at Massey, moving to Auckland in 1980 to the newly established Department of Computer Science. He was with our department through to his retirement in 2004, including a 3-year period as Head of Department from 1997. After retirement he continued his association under an Honorary appointment. Peter's research area was on the boundary between Mathematics and Computer Science in the field of Combinatorics. Peter's particular interests included block designs (especially Steiner systems), Latin squares, graph domination questions, and the development and implementation of computer algorithms for combinatorial search and enumeration. Peter taught his research specialization both at graduate and undergraduate level. He also taught introductory programming to first-year students and at a more advanced level. He got involved with new areas, such as Multimedia and BioInformatics, where his knowledge and expertise could be applied. Peter inspired many others into research, often drawn from the thousands of students whom he taught. These colleagues can be found throughout New Zealand and the world.