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Alan Turing
Alan Mathison Turing was not a well-known figure during his lifetime, but today he is famous for being an eccentric yet passionate British mathematician, who conceived modern computing and played a crucial part in the Allied victory over Nazi Germany in World War 2.
His life[edit | edit source]
Alan Turing was born on June 23, 1912, in Maida Vale, in London. The headmistress recognized his talent early on, as did many of his subsequent educators.
Alan Turing show remarkable ability in the studies he loved, solving advanced problems in 1927. He starts his school education at the age of six at St Michael's. After Sherborne, Turing studied as an undergraduate from 1931 to 1934 at King’s College. At the age of 13, he went to Sherborne very early in life. Turing showed signs of genius that he was later to display prominently. His parents purchased a house in Guildford in 1927, and Turing lived there during school holidays.
In 1936, Turing published a paper that is now recognized as the foundation of computer science. Ten years later he would turn this revolutionary idea into a practical plan for an electronic computer, capable of running any program.
He was chemically castrated in 1952. His castration and his homosexuality forced him to suicide. He died at the age of 41, on June 7, 1954. There are few alternate theories about his death, but an autopsy established that the cause of his death was cyanide poisoning. Later, an inquest determined that he had committed suicide.
His work[edit | edit source]
First, Alan Turing was a mathematician, and he was the creator of computer programs and algorithms.
During World War 2, Turing was one of those who break the code of Enigma. Enigma was a machine developed by the Nazis to send secret missives during fights. The Enigma machine had the reputation of being unbreakable, but Churchill wanted to break the Enigma code, so he invited all of the geniuses of United Kingdom to think about a way to break the machine. Alan Turing has won his battle against the machine, broke the code, and thanks to him, the war was shortened. Alan Turing was introduced into the Order of the British Empire for his work.
He also has worked to a machine to translate voice into binary language: to code voice, and this technology is today used in microphones.
Anecdotes[edit | edit source]
In 1926, there was a general strike on the first day school but Alan Turing was so determined to attend that he rode his bicycle unaccompanied more than 60 miles from Southampton to Sherborne. Alan Turing was just 13 years old.
In 1954, when his body was discovered, we found an apple dipped in cyanide lay half-eaten beside his bed. It is said that this story influenced the choice of the logo of mark Apple Inc., the apple half-eaten, to pay a tribute to Alan Turing, but it is just a theory.
See also[edit | edit source]
Sources[edit | edit source]
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Turing
- http://www.biography.com/people/alan-turing-9512017
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7dpFeXV_hqs
- http://www.bbc.co.uk/timelines/z8bgr82#zq9k87h
External links[edit | edit source]
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Computer science Portal — All articles about computer science |
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Mathematics Portal — All articles about mathematics. |