Alan Turing
Date: 09-07-1941
Alan Turing was brilliant mathematician and computer scientist from England. He studied mathematics at Kings College, Cambridge and graduated in 1934. He is considered to be one of the pioneers of the modern-day computer. In 1936 he published a paper called "On Computable Numbers". This paper was groundbreaking for the future of computers and considered to be the most influential math paper in history.
Alan Turing was brilliant mathematician and computer scientist from England. He studied mathematics at Kings College, Cambridge and graduated in 1934. He is considered to be one of the pioneers of the modern-day computer. In 1936 he published a paper called "On Computable Numbers". This paper was groundbreaking for the future of computers and considered to be the most influential math paper in history.
At the start of World War II Turing worked for the British Secret Service "Government Code and Cipher School" at Bletchley Park. Here he worked (together with a group of other mathematicians) on breaking secret German encrypted messages. Although they already could decipher messages from the famous German Enigma Machine, this process was very slow.
Turing managed to develop a machine called "The Bombe", that enabled the British to decipher German messages almost instantly. This machine was years ahead of his time and can be seen as the world's first supercomputers. According to many, this was one of the turning points of the war. The Allies could now knew immediately many of the German intentions. The first time this was really confirmed was when the Allies could stop a German air raid on July 9th, 1941 thanks to deciphered messages by the Bombe. |
After World War II, Turing worked till 1948 at the British Secret Service. In that year he was fired because he was a homosexual and even arrested and prosecuted for it in 1952. Homosexual relationships were illegal at the time and Turing pled guilty. His punishment was chemical castration instead of serving time in jail.
In 1954 Turing was found dead in his room, poisoned by cyanide. Until today it's a mystery whether or not he has been murdered or if he committed suicide. In 2014 the British government apologized for his arrest and prosecution and pardoned Turing postmortem. |
Did you know?
Nowadays the Turing test is still used to measure artificial intelligence. In his paper "On Computable Numbers" he suggested "the imitation game". The best measure of artificial intelligence is whether or not a computer can convince a person that it is human.
Nowadays the Turing test is still used to measure artificial intelligence. In his paper "On Computable Numbers" he suggested "the imitation game". The best measure of artificial intelligence is whether or not a computer can convince a person that it is human.
Location:
Bletchley Park, London
Bletchley Park, London