In this week's Data History episode, we're introduced to Alonzo Church, a pivotal figure in 20th-century logic and computer science, detailing his life, significant contributions, and enduring legacy. It highlights his creation of Lambda Calculus, a foundational system for functional programming, and his independent formulation of the concept that led to the Church-Turing Thesis, defining the limits of computation. The source also emphasises Church's influence as a mentor to leading figures like Alan Turing, whose work on Turing Machines complemented Church's abstract computational theory. Ultimately, the text positions Church as the abstract logician who provided the theoretical underpinnings for modern computer science and programming.
