384 | 35 RADIOlARIA: VAlIDATING THE TURING THEORy
the three-dimensional version concerns the overall shape of an organism. In 1953 I joined
Turing as a research student in the University of Manchester, and he set me the task of solving
his equation in three dimensions. A remarkable journey of collaboration began. Turing chatted
to me in a very friendly fashion. He told me he could see a way of developing his theory that
might lead to a realistic solution in the three-dimensional case. Although he did not mention it
to me at the time, Turing had earlier studied the drawings of Radiolaria in a copy of the Report
of the HMS Challenger Expedition.^3 (The British research ship Challenger toured the Pacific
and other oceans from 1873–76.)
Radiolaria
The Challenger’s crew found Radiolaria in the mud on the bottom of the Pacific Ocean.
Radiolaria are marine creatures whose unicellular body consists of two main portions sup-
ported by a membrane. One portion is an inner central capsule and the other an external surface
in contact with the outside world, for feeding and protection. The spherical body of Radiolaria
measures about 2 mm in diameter.
figure 35.1 Cromyatractus
tetracelyphus with two spines.
Reproduced from Bernard Richards,
‘The morphogenesis of Radiolaria’,
MSc Thesis, University of Manchester,
1954, with thanks to Dr Richard
Banach. Original image taken from
Ernst Haeckel, Report of the Scientific
Results of the Voyage of H.M.S.
Challenger During the Years 1873–76,
Volume 18.