Alan Turing
The German Codebreaker
About Alan turing
Born, Alan Turing
23 June 1912
Maida Vale, London, England
Died, 7 June 1954 (aged 41)
Wilmslow, Cheshire, England
Residence, Wilmslow, Cheshire, England
Nationality, British
Alan Turing was an English mathematician, wartime code-breaker and pioneer of computer science.
The Imitation Game - Official UK Teaser Trailer
How he was treated.
Alan Turing was arrested and came to trial on 31 March 1952, after the police learned of his sexual relationship with a young Manchester man. He made no serious denial or defence, instead telling everyone that he saw no wrong with his actions. He was particularly concerned to be open about his sexuality even in the hard and unsympathetic atmosphere of Manchester engineering. Rather than go to prison he accepted, for the period of a year, injections of oestrogen intended to neutralise his libido.
Early life
During WW2, Turing worked for the Government code and cyper school at bletchley Park, Britain's codebreaking centre. For a time he led hut 8, the section responsible for German naval cryptanalysis. He devised a number of techniques for breaking German ciphers, including improvements to the pre-war Polish bomb method, an electromechanical machine that could find settings for the Enigma machine . Winston Churchill said that Turing made the single biggest contribution to Allied victory in the war against Nazi Germany. Turing's pivotal role in cracking intercepted coded messages enabled the Allies to defeat the Nazis in several crucial battles. It has been estimated that Turing's work shortened the war in Europe by as many as two to four years.