It is only logical that Nick Duncan joined the International Fellowship of Rotary. He had Rotary in his veins from the get go..
Nicholas grew up in Christchurch, an "Eighties Kid". He fondly recalls holidays at the family batch in Tekapo, a land rich with Pine Forests to explore, and souvenirs from Horsey Hill. His parents both worked at the University of Canterbury; Kelvin was a Zoologist, most interested in Amphipods (tiny insects) and Averill was in Information Technology. Kelvin was an infamous Seargeant at the Christchurch Rotary Club, and Averill a proud Woman of The Inner Wheel.
A logical thinker from early on, Nicholas wrote his first computer programme when he was in primary school. It looked something like this:
Computer says "WHAT IS YOUR NAME?"
IF human types in "SIMON", THEN Computer says "GO AWAY SIMON"
IF human types in "NICHOLAS", THEN Computer says "HELLO NICHOLAS"
Unsurprisingly, Nicholas won scholarships throughout his academic career, incorporating Christ's College (Christchurch), The University of Canterbury (Undergraduate - Mathematics and Computer Science), The Australian National University (Honours), and finally his PhD at Cambridge University, back at Christ's College! During this time, in addition to striving for (and achieving) academic excellence, he enjoyed Killing As an Organised Sport (KAOS), pub crawls through the rambling English Countryside, and, very occasionally, wearing Cargo Pants.
He still seems to love working with numbers, arrows, brackets, and letters, solving equations and testing for x. He gave the club a crash course on Topos Theory, and then how to ensure a fair coin toss competition. We then learnt how to quickly and simply use RSA encryption over the internet.
According to Nick, now a Software Developer for the Ministry of Defense, "the real good maths" includes prime numbers that are around 500 digits long, and codes that break when one or more parties is being dishonest. This secures our online work, helps our emails to be private, and keeps or country safe.
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