The Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) presents the ACM A.M. Turing Award annually for outstanding achievements in computer science. The Turing Award is considered the highest honor in computer science and comes with a prize of one million dollars.

The seminar focuses on the lives and contributions of potential candidates for the next Turing Award. Students are asked to nominate a selected figure in computer science for the Turing Award and write a scientific statement to the ACM A.M. Turing Award Committee. The statement should include a summary of the candidate's most important life stages and career steps, a detailed description of their key contributions, and a justification for awarding the Turing Award in terms of the significance and impact of their contributions to computer science.

The statement will then be presented and discussed in a plenary session. In addition, students are to write two scientific reviews of papers written by other seminar participants.

Learning objectives

Through the proseminar, students learn about key technical contributions and milestones in computer science. They expand their technical knowledge, learn to place significant achievements in their historical context, and reflect on the lives and career paths of important figures in computer science.

After completing the proseminar, students will be able to

• conduct independent literature research on a given topic and evaluate the literature found for its relevance to the task at hand. Students can analyze, interpret, and classify the structure, purpose, target audience, and characteristics of a given text written by someone else.
• to produce a scientific paper on a technical topic. Students can present technical contributions and evaluate them in a differentiated manner. Students are able to represent a point of view and argue logically and coherently.
• Write expert opinions on scientific contributions. Students can critically examine texts, evaluate them according to a specified scheme, and develop constructive suggestions for improvement.
• Process the results of their research and present them in an academic form appropriate for the audience.

Information on the organizational details will be distributed to the course participants after the central application via the WiWi-Portal.