Turing family join fight to save ‘blue-skies maths’ from neglect
The Observer reports on the launch of the Protect Pure Maths Campaign - as Alan Turing’s family led their support.
“My family are all so proud of the legacy of Alan Turing and he is now even on the £50 note,” said Rachel Barnes, Turing’s great-niece. “To honour that legacy we must keep funding and supporting pure maths – the subject at which my great uncle excelled and which was the bedrock his achievements were built on. I believe it is vital that young people who show a talent for pure maths should be able to study it at its highest level at university. This will keep our country leading in the area of mathematics and also science.”
Pure maths is the study of concepts independent of any application outside the subject, as opposed to applied maths, which focuses on its practical applications, such as statistics or probability. However, the campaigners, backed by the London Mathematical Society, argue that pure maths often informs real-world breakthroughs.