See: http://www.ellsbury.com/gne/gne-042.htm. 4 In 1946, King George VI appointed Turing an Officer of the Order of the British Empire for his wartime services, although the details of his work remained secret for many years. 5 Turing, A (1936), ‘On Computable Numbers, with an Application to the Entscheidungsproblem’, Proceedings of the London Mathematical Society, Volume 42, Issue 1, pp. 230-265. 3  4  All speeches are available online at www.bankofengland.co.uk/news/speeches  4  Having imagined the concept of a computer, Turing helped turn it into reality. He played a vital role in the design and development of early electronic computers after the war, continuing to contribute key ideas such as implementing functions by flexible programing rather than pre-set built-in electronic components. Working first at the National Physical Laboratory in London and later at the Computing Machine Laboratory at Manchester University, his insights led to the creation of the Automatic Computing Engine (ACE) in 1950 and the program for Ferranti Mark 1, the world’s first commercially available electronic computer. A visionary as well as a revolutionary, Turing recognised that “This is only a foretaste of what is to come and only the shadow of what is going to be”. True to his nature, Turing himself began to suggest some possible directions. His interests in neurology and physiology led him to ask whether computing machines could be capable of mimicking the faculties of the human mind, including the ability to learn.
2  BIS central bankers’ speeches  Only three days ago, the capital markets provided the latest proof of the efficiency of the macroeconomic policies in Bulgaria and the resilience of our economy in the face of such a severe global crisis. Bulgaria’s global issue of 5-year euro-denominated bonds, marking our country’s return to the international bond markets after a decade, was a great success. The international investors’ orders oversubscribed the offered amount more than 6 times. Their strong interest has resulted in a very low annual yield of 4.436%. At present, only the highest-rated EU Member States can afford to pay a lower price for borrowing on the private capital markets. To conclude, we have achieved monetary and banking stability in Bulgaria during the last 15 years. They have been bolstered by the synergies of monetary and macroprudential mandates (including banking supervision) within the central bank, complemented by the prudent fiscal policies of several consecutive governments since 1997. The BNB representatives will be eager to discuss our knowledge today and tomorrow, while also looking forward to learning about the experiences of the other countries represented at this conference. I wish you a most fruitful exchange of views and ideas. Thank you very much for your attention. BIS central bankers’ speeches  3