Alan Turing is considered by many to be the father of computer science for his contributions to the subject in the 20th century.
He was born on June 23, 1912, in London, England, and studied mathematics at
King's College, Cambridge starting from 1931.
After earning his bachelor's and master's Degree, he went to Princeton University to receive his PhD in Mathematics in June 1938.
In 1950, following a paper that he wrote,
Turing would propose the Turing test, also known as the imitation game,
which would test a computer on whether or not it can think. It built the foundation surrounding the subject
of artificial intelligence, but other methods
would be used, since the Turing test can be considered "outdated" by today's AI standards.
In 1952, he would be convicted due to homosexuality, which at the time, was illegal in the UK, and he would be subjected to 12 months
of
hormonal therapy. On June 7, 1954, he would pass away from cyanide poisoning, and his death would be ruled as a suicide.
The Turing Machine
In 1936, Turing created the Turing machine, which is a mathematical model of computation using an infinite memory tape
covered with symbols to manipulate other characters and symbols.
He developed the Turing machine as a response
to the entscheidungsproblem, also known as the Decision Problem. The read and write function of the machine helped to manipulate
and modify the other symbols.
Other functions of the Turing machine included state variables, which are used to
state the status of the machine, and rules, which are used to instruct the machine based on the current state
of the machine and the symbols.
Codebreaker Turing
Shortly after receiving his PhD at Princeton in 1938, World War II would begin, and he proceeded to work for the UK government
as a codebreaker to decipher German communications, who used the Enigma machine.
Turing
and his team would develop a machine that would easily decipher communications called the bombe, as opposed to Polish systems
such as the bomba kryptologiczna. Turing's efforts would be commended, as it prepared
the allies
for potential German conflicts using the new decrypting system, which might've been a significant contribution to shortening World War II.
Bibliography and Citations
Copeland, B. (2023, September 5). Alan Turing. Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Alan-Turing
Britannica, T. Editors of Encyclopaedia (2023, June 23). Turing test. Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/technology/Turing-test
Aron, J. (n.d.). Alan Turing. New Scientist. https://www.newscientist.com/people/alan-turing/
Britannica, T. Editors of Encyclopaedia (2023, September 7). Turing machine. Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/technology/Turing-machine
Wikipedia contributors. (2023, September 22). Alan Turing. In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 04:16, September 29, 2023, from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Alan_Turing&oldid=1176524320
The New York Times. (2019, June 5). Overlooked no more: Alan Turing, condemned Code Breaker and computer visionary. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/05/obituaries/alan-turing-overlooked.html
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