Alan Mathison Turing OBE, FRS (1912-1954) (original) (raw)

Alan Mathison Turing OBE, FRS

Born 23 Jun 1912 in Maida Vale, London, England, United Kingdommap

Ancestors ancestors

Died 7 Jun 1954 at age 41in Wilmslow, Cheshire, England, United Kingdommap

Profile last modified 28 Nov 2024| Created 24 Sep 2014

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Contents

Biography

Notables Project

Alan Turing OBE, FRS is Notable.

Alan Turing was a founder of computer science, mathematician and cryptographer who designed a machine to help break the German Enigma encrypted messages in World War 2. Winston Churchill attributed Turing's work as the single biggest contribution to the Allied victory in the war against Nazi Germany.

Turing was born in London on 23 Jun 1912, the son of Julius Mathison Turing (1873-1947) and Ethel Sara (Stoney) Turing (1881-1976). He was a brilliant child and showed an early aptitude for mathematics and logic. He attended Sherborne School, where he excelled in his studies and won a scholarship to King's College, Cambridge, in 1931. He received a PhD from Princeton in 1938.

Mathematician, computer scientist and physicist Max Von Neumann, who worked on the Manhattan Project, acknowledged that the central concept of the modern computer was due to Turing's paper in 1936. To this day, Turing machines are a significant object of study in the theory of computation.

During the Second World War, Turing was a leading participant in breaking German cyphers at Bletchley Park. Turing had specified an electromechanical machine called a bombe that could help break Enigma more effectively than the Polish bomba kryptologiczna, from which its name was derived. With an enhancement suggested by mathematician Gordon Welchman, the bombe became one of the primary tools and the major automated one used to attack Enigma-enciphered messages.

In 1945, Turing was awarded the OBE by King George VI for his wartime services, but his work remained secret for many years.

From 1945 to 1947, Turing worked on the ACE (Automatic Computing Engine) design at the National Physical Laboratory. He presented a paper on 19 Feb 1946, the first detailed design of a stored-program computer.

In 1950 while at Manchester University, Turing published his paper "Computing Machinery and Intelligence," in which he proposed the "Turing test", a test of a machine's ability to exhibit intelligent behaviour. The idea was that a computer could be said to "think" if a human interrogator could not tell it apart, through conversation, from a human being. The Turing test is still used today as a benchmark for artificial intelligence.

Personal Life and Legacy

Though a brilliant scientist, Turing also led a complex private life. He was gay, in a time when homosexual acts were illegal in the United Kingdom. Whilst homosexuality was common, for example, in the arts and theatre, and accepted secretly within educational establishments and Universities, wider society was not accepting of it.

Turing's first love was Christopher Morcom, whom he met at Sherburn. His feelings towards Morcom were unrequited, and sadly Morcom died of tuberculosis at 18. Turing is said to have been devastated.

In 1952, Turing's homosexuality was discovered. He had been in a relationship with Arnold Murray, a young man from Manchester. Murray was later involved in a robbery at Turing's house, and when reporting it to the police, Turing admitted the relationship. Convicted of gross indecency, he was given the option of a prison sentence or undergoing hormone therapy with treatment with diethylstilbestrol (DES), a procedure commonly referred to as chemical castration. He opted for the latter. At the same time, despite his work having shortened WWII by up to two years and all his other scientific and mathematical successes, his security clearances for his top-secret work for the British government were revoked.

Turing died on 7 June 1954 from cyanide poisoning. An inquest determined his death as a suicide. Still, it has been noted that the known evidence is also consistent with accidental cyanide poisoning from his laboratory next to his bedroom. Murder has also been suggested due to his sexuality or the perceived potential threat to national security.[1]

Following a public campaign in 2009, the British prime minister Gordon Brown made an official public apology on behalf of the British government for "the appalling way [Turing] was treated". Queen Elizabeth II granted a posthumous pardon in 2013. [2]

Turing's death was a tragedy, but his legacy lives on. He is remembered as one of the most brilliant scientists of the 20th century, and he is considered a pioneer in computer science, artificial intelligence, and mathematics. He is also an important figure in the LGBTQ+ community and is remembered as a symbol of resilience and hope. Perhaps his most significant legacy is the "Alan Turing law", now used informally to refer to a 2017 law in the United Kingdom that retroactively pardoned men cautioned or convicted under historical legislation that outlawed homosexual acts.

in 2021, Alan Turing’s portrait was featured on the back of the newly designed £50 note in the United Kingdom.

Genealogical discoveries

Research on WikiTree has revealed the following family links:

Sources

  1. ↑ Copeland, B., "Alan Turing." Encyclopedia Britannica, Accessed 16 May 2023; https://www.britannica.com/biography/Alan-Turing.
  2. ↑ Wikipedia, accessed 24 March 2023. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Turing
  3. ↑ "Mossom Boyd", Wikipedia
  4. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turing_baronets

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