Computer Components
by Emily Crudgington
Parts of a Computer:
The parts of a computer all have different jobs to ensure the computer works. This may be telling the monitor what to display or storing memory. Here are some examples of important parts of the computer:
- Motherboard
- Power Supply
- CPU
- RAM
- Hard Drive
- Monitor
- Cooling device
Motherboard
CPU
RAM
Alan Turing
Alan Turing was born on 23 June, 1912, in London. Turing studied mathematics at Cambridge University, then taught there, working on quantum mechanics.
In 1936, Turing went to Princeton University in America, returning to England in 1938. He began to work secretly part-time for the British cryptanalytic department, the Government Code and Cypher School. On the outbreak of war he took up full-time work at its headquarters in Bletchley Park.
Here he worked on 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 the bombe that successfully decoded German messages. He became a well-known figure at Bletchley.
After the war, he 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. People believe 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. In that era, homosexuals were considered a security risk because they were open to blackmail. Turing's security clearance was taken away.
He committed suicide on 7 June, 1954.