Alan Turing
Who Is He?
Background Information
Alan Turing was a British pioneering computer scientist, mathematician, logician, cryptanalyst, philosopher, mathematical biologist, and marathon and ultra distance runner, born on June 23, 1912 in London. Turing, OBE, went to Princeton University in America in 1936. He played a vital role in deciphering the messages encrypted by the German Enigma machine, which provided vital intelligence for the Allies at the the Government Code and Cypher School. Once the war was over, Alan Turing turned to developing a computer that processes information. He worked for the National Physical Laboratory. His lab missed out on being the first to create a digital computer since his colleagues dismissed his plans. His blueprints could have made a computer with higher speeds than any others. In 1951, Turing was elected a fellow of the Royal Society after he developed a body of artificial intelligence. In 1952, he was arrested for homosexuality and 2 years later, he commited suicide.