Alan Turing

Alan Mathison Turing (June 23, 1912 – June 7, 1954) was a British mathematician, logician, and cryptographer.

Related Topics:
June 23 - 1912 - June 7 - 1954 - British - Mathematician - Logician - Cryptographer

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Turing is often considered to be a father of modern computer science. With the Turing Test, he made a significant and characteristically provocative contribution to the debate regarding artificial consciousness: whether it will ever be possible to say that a machine is conscious and can think. He provided an influential formalisation of the concept of algorithm and computation with the Turing machine, formulating the now widely accepted "Turing" version of the Church-Turing thesis, namely that any practical computing model has either the equivalent or a subset of the capabilities of a Turing machine.

Related Topics:
Computer science - Turing Test - Artificial consciousness - Conscious - Think - Algorithm - Turing machine - Church-Turing thesis

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During World War II, Turing worked at Bletchley Park, Britain's codebreaking centre. He devised a number of techniques for breaking German ciphers and became head of the section responsible for German Naval cryptanalysis (Hut 8). He designed the bombe, an electromechanical machine which could find settings for the Enigma machine.

Related Topics:
World War II - Bletchley Park - Codebreaking - Bombe - Enigma machine

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After the war, he worked at the National Physical Laboratory, creating one of the first designs for a stored program computer, although it was never actually built. In 1947 he moved to the University of Manchester to work, largely on software, on the Manchester Mark I then emerging as one of the world's earliest true computers.

Related Topics:
National Physical Laboratory - University of Manchester - Manchester Mark I

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In 1952, Turing was convicted of acts of gross indecency because of his homosexuality. He was placed on probation and required to undergo hormone therapy.

Related Topics:
Homosexuality - Hormone therapy

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Turing died in 1954; the inquest found that he had committed suicide after eating an apple laced with cyanide.

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