In the world of technology, having one of your inventions rendered in Lego form is the equivalent of a musician being parodied by Weird Al — it’s a sign you’ve truly made it and tribute to your influence. So, we’re more than a little surprised to see that it’s taken this long for the Turing Machine to be lovingly built from plastic bricks. The heart of this simple logic device is a Lego Mindstorms NXT set, but the soul is in Alan Turing’s genius — a man who was before his time and unjustly persecuted for failing to properly fit into society’s molds. Dutch researchers Jeroen van den Bosand and Davy Landman built the device as a tribute to Turing, who would have celebrated his 100th birthday this Saturday. If you’re in Amsterdam you can see the machine yourself at Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica’s Turings Erfenis exhibit. Or, you can watch the short explanatory video after the break.

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Alan Turing’s breakthrough machine gets a loving Lego tribute (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 22 Jun 2012 15:42:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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