Alan Turing

The basics.

Full name: Alan Mathison Turing

Born: 23rd June 1912

From: Maida Vale, London UK

Occupation: Mathematician, Computer Scientist, Logician, Cryptanalyst and Theoretical Biologist!!

Died: 7th June 1954

What was he famous for?

He was famous across many professional fields however what really made him an historic household name were his contributions towards defeating the Nazi’s during WW2.  Alan joined the top secret code breaking department for the British government during the War where he and his colleague, Gordon Welchman, attempted to crack the Enigma Code!

The Enigma Code was a Nazi secret code deemed ‘unbreakable’.  With over 150 million settings and combinations and working by scrambling messages using several rotating wheels and a plug board, it was extremely hard to crack. However, along came Welchman’s and Turing’s invention ‘The Bombe’ which was a machine that helped decipher the opposition’s code; this gave the Brits and its allies a massive advantage as they could stealthily intrude on the enemies military plans and whereabouts… By 1945, the war was over!

Turing and AI

Think AI is just a recent thing? Nope, think again! In 1950 Turing published a scientific paper named Computing Machinery and Intelligence. This paper explored if one day computers will be able to think and he created a method for judging Artificial Intelligence! This method was referred to as the ‘imitation game’ then later coined as the ‘Turning Test’ which is still used to this day.

Quick Facts!

• Alan Turing’s IQ was a whopping 185!
• He was a keen long distance runner and even tried out for the Olympics after the war.
• Turing was apparently a bit of an odd ball and had some strange habits, one of those being wearing a gas mask on his way to work to avoid hay fever.
• He invented the first ever computer chess program.
• He passed away of cyanide poisoning.