Computing History
Alan Turing
Who was Alan Turing?
Alan Turing, you could say, was the 'father' of modern computing. He came up with the original idea for a computer. He came up with an idea for a super machine, a machine that could do everything by reading different symbols. He invented the first mathematical computer, the first artifical intelligence. Our computers today are all based upon his original idea - if it wasn't for him we wouldn't have the same computer intelligence we have today.
Alan Turing lived from 1912-1954. However, he was gay, and in those times if you were gay you were persecuted, as the believed it was wrong. therefore he was arrested, and offered two choices: either he would go to prison or be given female hormones. He took the hormones, but two weeks after his 42nd birthday, he commited suicide - he died from cyanide poisoning.
This, many belive, was horrifically unfair - he helped us crack codes to win the 1st world war. He did so much for computing, and the way he was treated was very very cruel.