Alex Smith (The Simplest Universal Computer Proof contest winner)

Alexander Ian Smith (born April 15, 1987 in Birmingham), an undergraduate studying electronic and computer engineering at the University of Birmingham, UK, [ [http://www.wolframscience.com/prizes/tm23/alex_smith_bio.html Alex Smith's bio on the Wolfram prize site.] ] is known for winning the Stephen Wolfram's research prize in October 2007 for a proof that a particular 2,3 Turing machine is the simplest Universal Turing machine possible.

Alex Smith grew up in Birmingham, attending King Edward VI Five Ways, and was an alternate for the UK International Mathematical Olympiad team. His parents are both teachers at University of Birmingham.

Although at first he thought that the machine proposed by Stephen Wolfram was "not" universal because its behavior seemed to him too simple for it to be a universal Turing machine with slightly more complicated behavior than a regular (non-universal) Turing machine, he eventually changed his mind and finally devised a formal proof of the proposition that Wolfram's candidate was indeed universal. [cite web|url=http://blog.wolfram.com/2007/10/the_prize_is_won_the_simplest.html|title=The Prize Is Won; The Simplest Universal Turing Machine Is Proved]

References

See also

Turing machine

Further reading

* [http://www.nature.com/news/2007/071024/full/news.2007.190.html Student snags maths prize] , "Nature", Published online 24 October 2007.
* [http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2007/10/college-kid-pro.html College Kid Proves That Wolfram's Turing Machine is the Simplest Universal Computer] , "Wired Science", Published online 24 October 2007.
* [http://www.wolframscience.com/prizes/tm23/solution_news.html Prize Announcement and Alex Smith's original proof.]
* [http://technology.newscientist.com/article/dn12826-simplest-universal-computer-wins-student-25000.html Simplest 'universal computer' wins student $25,000] , "New Scientist", Published online 24 October 2007.
* [http://www.ddj.com/blog/portal/archives/2007/05/the_prize_and_u.html The Wolfram Prize and Universal Computation: It's Your Problem Now] , "Dr. Dobbs Journal", Published online 22 October 2007.
*Wolfram, S. A New Kind of Science. Wolfram Media, 2002, page 709. [http://www.wolframscience.com/nksonline/page-709]
* [http://www.wolframscience.com/prizes/tm23/ Wolfram 2,3 Turing Machine Research Prize.]
* [http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?chanID=sa003&articleID=D8F2082D-E7F2-99DF-36D4F98C7C2A7674&pageNumber=1&catID=1 A New Kind of Science Author Pays Brainy Undergrad $25,000 for Identifying Simplest Computer] by J.R. Minkel, "Scientific American", October 25, 2007.
* [http://blog.wolfram.com/index.php?year=2007&monthnum=10&name=the-prize-is-won-the-simplest-universal-turing-machine-is-proved "The Prize Is Won; The Simplest Universal Turing Machine Is Proved"] The October 24 entry at Wolfram Research's blog announcing the news.