Alan Turing

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

Work on early computers and the Turing Test

From 1945 to 1947 he was at the National Physical Laboratory, where he worked on the design of ACE (Automatic Computing Engine). He presented a paper on February 19, 1946, which was the first complete design of a stored-program computer. Although he succeeded in designing the ACE, there were delays in starting the project and he became disillusioned. In late 1947 he returned to Cambridge for a 'sabbatical' year. While he was at Cambridge work on building the ACE stopped before it was ever begun. In 1949 he became deputy director of the computing laboratory at the University of Manchester, and worked on software for one of the earliest true computers — the Manchester Mark I. During this time he continued to do more abstract work, and in "Computing machinery and intelligence" (Mind, October 1950), Turing addressed the problem of artificial intelligence, and proposed an experiment now known as the Turing test, an attempt to define a standard for a machine to be called "sentient".

Related Topics:
1945 - 1947 - National Physical Laboratory - ACE - Stored-program computer - 1949 - University of Manchester - Manchester Mark I - Computing machinery and intelligence - 1950 - Artificial intelligence - Turing test

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In 1948, Turing, working with his former undergraduate colleague, D.G. Champernowne, began writing a chess program for a computer that did not yet exist. In 1952, lacking a computer powerful enough to execute the program, Turing played a game in which he simulated the computer, taking about half an hour per move. The game was recorded; the program lost to a colleague of Turing, Alick Glennie, however, it is said that the programme won a game against Champernowne's wife.

Related Topics:
1948 - D.G. Champernowne - 1952 - Alick Glennie

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