Computer History and Technology
Alan Turing and Tim Berners-lee
Alan Turing
Alan Turing
Computer Scientist
Alan Mathison Turing, OBE, FRS was a British pioneering computer scientist, mathematician, logician, cryptanalyst, philosopher, mathematical biologist, and marathon and ultra distance runner. Wikipedia
Born: June 23, 1912, Maida Vale, London
Died: June 7, 1954, Wilmslow
Education: Princeton University (1936–1938), more
Parents: Julius Mathison Turing, Ethel Sara Stoney
Siblings: John Turin
Here he played a vital role in deciphering the messages encrypted by the German Enigma machine, which provided vital intelligence for the Allies. He took the lead in a team that designed a machine known as a bombe that successfully decoded German messages. He became a well-known and rather eccentric figure at Bletchley.
After the war, Turing turned his thoughts to the development of a machine that would logically process information. He worked first for the National Physical Laboratory (1945-1948). His plans were dismissed by his colleagues and the lab lost out on being the first to design a digital computer. It is thought that Turing's blueprint would have secured them the honour, as his machine was capable of computation speeds higher than the others. In 1949, he went to Manchester University where he directed the computing laboratory and developed a body of work that helped to form the basis for the field of artificial intelligence. In 1951 he was elected a fellow of the Royal Society.
In 1952, Turing was arrested and tried for homosexuality, then a criminal offence. To avoid prison, he accepted injections of oestrogen for a year, which were intended to neutralise his libido. In that era, homosexuals were considered a security risk as they were open to blackmail. Turing's security clearance was withdrawn, meaning he could no longer work for GCHQ, the post-war successor to Bletchley Park.
He committed suicide on 7 June, 1954.
Tim Berners-lee
Tim Berners-Lee
Computer Scientist
Sir Timothy John "Tim" Berners-Lee, OM, KBE, FRS, FREng, FRSA, DFBCS, also known as TimBL, is an English computer scientist, best known as the inventor of the World Wide Web. Wikipedia
Born: June 8, 1955 (age 59), London
Nationality: British
Books: Weaving the Web: The Original Design and Ultimate Destiny of the World Wide Web by its Inventor
Parents: Mary Lee Woods, Conway Berners-Lee
Awards: MacArthur Fellowship, Marconi Prize, Charles Stark Draper Prize, Mountbatten Medal, President's Medal
Berners Lee is a British computer scientist who invented the World Wide Web.Timothy John Berners Lee was born on 8 June 1955 and grew up in London. He studied physics at Oxford University and became a software engineer.
In 1980, while working at CERN, the European Particle Physics Laboratory in Geneva, he first described the concept of a global system, based on the concept of 'hypertext', that would allow researchers anywhere to share information. He also built a prototype called 'Enquire'.
In 1984, Berners Lee's returned to CERN, which was also home to a major European Internet node. In 1989, Berners Lee published a paper called 'Information Management: A Proposal' in which he married up hypertext with the Internet, to create a system for sharing and distributing information not just within a company, but globally. He named it the World Wide Web.Education: The Queen's College, Oxford (1973–1976), Emanuel School (1969–1973