雙語暢銷書《艾倫圖靈傳》第8章:水銀延時線(53)
Newman's application was for a grant to cover the capital cost and five years of salaries for an electronic computer.
The Royal Society set up a committee to investigate the application for a grant, consisting of Blackett, Darwin, Hartree, and two pure mathematicians, Hodge from Cambridge and Whitehead from Oxford.
皇家學會爲此專門成立了一個委員會，來考察這項申請。該委員會由布萊克特、達爾文、哈特里和另外兩位純數學家組成，這兩位分別是來自劍橋的霍奇和來自牛津的懷特海。Darwin opposed it on the grounds that the ACE was to serve the needs of the country.
達爾文堅決反對ACE是爲政治需要而服務的。
Womersley had expressed the particular fear that Newman would steal Flowers away from the ACE.
另外沃默斯利曾經對他表示，他擔心紐曼會從ACE項目組挖走弗洛文斯。But he was outvoted, for it was approved that there should be 'a different type of machine' for Newman's project.
但是達爾文最終被多數票擊敗了，因爲大多數人都同意，紐曼的計劃是一種"不同的機器"。On 29 May the Treasury allocated 35,000 pounds to Newman.
5月29日，財政部給紐曼撥款35, 000英鎊。The rationale was that as 'fundamental science', his proposal fell into the orbit of the Royal Society, and did not conflict with the DSIR.
因爲紐曼要研究的是基礎科學，所以他的提議屬於皇家學會的勢力範圍，沒有與科學工業研究部產生什麼衝突。It meant that a rather surprising breath of mathematical innocence was felt again, with a computer development not required for weaponry.
這件事意味着，在計算機的發展過程中，數學的純粹性就要重新登上舞臺了。It so happened that Blackett knew F.C. Williams from before the war, when they had collaborated on an automatic curve-tracer for the differential analyser.
碰巧的是，布萊克特在戰爭之前就認識威廉姆斯，當時他們一起爲了差分機，合作研究自動曲線儀。Both Darwin and Newman, therefore, were looking to Williams to help them 'jump in ahead of America', and Darwin's plan for a single national computer installation had already been undermined.
因此，紐曼和達爾文爲了"超越美國"，都想向威廉姆斯尋求幫助。達爾文獨攬國家計算機部署權的打算，已經被悄無聲息地破壞掉了，而威廉姆斯則在這兩位之間猶豫着。The question of who was going to build the ACE remained unresolved while Williams decided between these suitors.
誰來製造ACE，這個問題現在仍然懸而未決。
