Autograph letter signed to Martin Davis

Church, Alonzo (1903-95). Autograph letter signed to Martin Davis (1928-2023). 1+ pages on single sheet. Los Angeles, 21 May 1984. 215 x 141 mm. Fine.

From Alonzo Church, who made major contributions to mathematical logic, including the lambda calculus (a universal model of computation), the Church-Turing thesis on the nature of computable functions, and his proof of the unsolvability of Hilbert's famous Entscheidungsproblem. Together with his doctoral student, Alan Turing, Church is considered one of the founders of computer science. His correspondent, Martin Davis, was a mathematical logician and computer scientist who had done his Ph.D. work under Church at Princeton; his doctoral thesis on Hilbert's tenth problem led to the MRDP theorem for Diophantine sets.

Church responds to an inquiry from Davis regarding John von Neumann and Alan Turing:

"I am sorry that, in spite of the delay, my reply to your letter has to be disappointing. I even tried searching old correspondence files in the hope of turning up something of interest, but to no avail. I know of no interest by von Neumann in the connection between concrete computers and the abstract theory of computability, and of no consultation between Turing and von Neumann about this or other matters . . ."