Alan Turing was an immensely influential mathematician, a pioneer in artificial intelligence and an integral member of Bletchley Park’s code breaking team during WWII. This team was credited with saving millions of lives and ending the war an estimated two years early. Not only is Turing one of the greatest British minds, he was unapologetically gay and defiant of the societal confines of his time. Turing’s papers have been fundamental in the development of Artificial intelligence. His contributions to the field of computer science has earned him his title as the Father of the modern computer.
Alan Turing was born June, 23rd 1912 in London, England. Turing spent the majority of his childhood separated from his parents as his father traveled often to India as part of his work with the government. Turing received an exceptional education, attending many private institutions due to his father’s government position. When he was 14 years old Turing began to study subjects of interest independently, as he felt limited by the structure of the boarding school in Dorset he attended ( Sherborne school).
It was at Sherborne that he developed an immense attraction to Christopher Morcom, a fellow student. The two developed a close bond which, as teachers observed, had a positive impact on Turing’s behavior and motivated him to do better in his classes. He was devastated by Morcom’s death in 1930 from tuberculosis.
In 1931 he was awarded a scholarship to King’s College, Cambridge. The school’s much more liberal culture fostered growth within Turing; a young, gay, Mathematician. It was at King’s College that he earned a Mathematics degree with distinction in 1934. Turing was particularly invested in the applications of mathematics in life.
In 1936 Turing’s published the paper “On computable Numbers, with an Application to the Entschiedungsproblem”. Now widely acclaimed as the foundation of modern computer science, the paper outlined the idea of a universal machine and proved that the Entschiedungsproblem cannot be resolved. The decision method is a method to determine which mathematical statements are provable within a formal mathematical system. In relation to the decision method, the Entschiedungsproblem sought to put the decision method in terms solvable by a human computer (In the early 20th century persons were often employed to complete mathematical calculations). The “Universal Turing Machine” proposed in the paper would be able to both decode and perform any set of functions; bypassing the need for human computers. This was an abstract concept was innovative and beyond its time, but would soon become the foundation of the electronic computer.
Following his paper Turing transferred to Princeton for two years to study secret ciphers for his Ph.D. in mathematical logic.
After returning to Britain in 1938 Turing joined the Government Code and Cypher school. When war broke out in 1939 he was recruited into their code breaking department at Bletchley Park. Their focus was to crack Enigma’s code. Enigma was a machine designed and used by the German Military to encipher all communications. At Bletchley Park Turing worked closely with his peers to develop “The Bombe” which was able to decrypt the Enigma’s messages. The Bombe exploited the German military’s inclusion of a daily weather report. It was named closely after “The Bomba” a Polish decryption machine invented in 1938 which was rendered useless by a change in German operating procedures.
The Bombe was critical in the decryption of German communications; the machine was reproduced to create a network of machines which would, at the height of the war, intercept an estimated 84 000 ciphered messages a month.
Throughout their work the code breakers of Bletchley park struggled to find funding, leaving them consistently understaffed and in dire need of resources. Their situation however drastically improved when Prime Minister Winston Churchill responded to their requests granting them the much needed funding in 1941. During this year Turing’s team made significant advancements in deciphering German submarine signals and changed the course of the Battle of the Atlantic. Churchill himself later said “Turing made the single greatest contribution to allied victory.”
It was during this time that he developed a close relationship with fellow cryptanalysist Joan Clarke. The two became engaged and Turing disclosed his sexual orientation to Clarke. Months later however he would break off the engagement. The two of them would remain friends for the rest of Turing’s life.
In 1942 he and his team were able to develop a method to decipher codes from the German encryption machine “Tunny”. The allies then had access to all communications between Hitler and his high ranking officials. For the next two years Turing developed “Delilah” a powerful machine able to encrypt and decrypt spoken conversations. Delilah however was never used in the field.
For his previous contributions in the field of code breaking Turing was honored with the title “Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire” in 1945. He went on to work at the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) developing what he often referred to as an ‘Electronic brain’. By 1946 he had devised a blueprint of the Automatic Computing Engine (ACE). ACE was able to store programs in its artificial memory, which made its applications endless. However Turing terminated his employment with the NPL after being disheartened by the projects slow progress. The Pilot Model ACE was built in 1950, a simpler rendition of Turing’s design as engineers thought the original too complex and thus far too difficult to complete.
After his resignation in 1948 Turing took on the position of deputy directorship of the Computing Machine Laboratory at the University of Manchester. Using techniques from Bletchley Park Turing designed an input –output system, and programming system for the computer. Until 1950 Turing focused on the applications of computers at the University of Manchester. An area of particular study was the computer’s ability to imitate human thought, and such studies were the foundations of the Turing test. The Turing test he developed measured whether a computer was thinking or not and continues to be used to this day.
In 1951 Turing turned his focus towards biology, he was fascinated by the abundant presence of patterns in nature. His work now delve into the depths of biology and sought to explain the presence of patterns in nature through equations correlating to chemical reactions. The results of his findings were reported in his paper “The Chemical Basis of Morphogenesis” published in 1952.
The same year he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society, a prestigious community of scientists in the commonwealth for his theory of computability.
In 1952 Turing reported a burglary from his home, leading Police officers to discover Turing’s affair with Arnold Murray, the perpetrator. He was convicted and charged with “gross indecency” and opted to undergo hormone therapy (chemical castration) as part of his probation in order to avoid a prison sentence. His conviction ultimately ended his work with the Government Communications Headquarters as his security clearance was revoked. The estrogen injections proved themselves to be detrimental to Turing’s health as they caused him to grow breasts and triggered depression.
In 1952 and 1953 Turing defied the terms of his probation by traveling to Greece and Norway, while continuing to have relations with men. He had many hostile encounters with police surveillance during this time as he was labeled a security threat.
Turing was found dead June 8th 1954 by his cleaner with a partly consumed apple next to the bed where he lay. He had died the day prior of Cyanide poisoning. The coroner ruled that his death was a suicide. His suicide was likely a result of his chemical therapy and the depression it caused. He was among 49, 000 victims of 20th century homophobia, who struggled under the discriminatory policies of prejudiced government institutions.
In 1966, in honor of Turing’s legacy, the highest award in the field of computing was created. The Turing prize is an annual award that continues today, now worth $1 000 000 dollars. The full extent of Turing’s contributions were not known to the public until the 1970’s, when information regarding Bletchley Park was declassified.
In 2009 Prime Minister Gordon Brown publicly apologized on behalf of the British government regarding Turing’s conviction. He stated: “Alan and the many thousands of other gay men who were convicted, as he was convicted under homophobic laws were treated terribly. This recognition of Alan’s status as one of Britain’s most famous victims of homophobia is another step towards equality and long overdue.” And in 2013 on the 23rd of December following a long and widely supported campaign Queen Elizabeth II granted Alan Turing a royal pardon. On February 1st, 2017 all 49, 000 men convicted of gross indecency were granted amnesty. The law informally referred to as the “Alan Turing law” is a milestone for the gay community, and although it by no means compensates for the suffering endured by those victims of homophobia, it is a symbolic victory for many of these men.
The same year papers from Bletchley Park, which included specific details regarding Turing’s techniques, were released to British National Archives, nearly 70 years after Turing’s work ended. In 2014 the film “The Imitation Game” was released which serves as a short biography of Alan Turing’s life starring Benedict Cumberbatch as Turing and Keira Knightley as Clarke. It was awarded the Oscar for best writing and nominated for many other awards.
The legacy of Turing’s work lives on in our technology today. By no means is it possible to over-sell just how vital of a role he played in the turnout of WWII. His heroic application and dedication to code breaking saved countless lives and was significant in the allies victory. The results of his brilliance persevered unrecognized long after his death but today Turing is recognized as a model of strength and honesty in the face of prejudice, and a source of pride for Great Britain.
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