Alan Turing Tribute

Alan Turing was a famous British mathematician and computer scientist. He lived from June 23, 1912 to June 7, 1954 and greatly influenced the development of modern computer science and artificial intelligence. He also worked for the Government Code and Cypher School during World War II, creating methods to break German ciphers like the Enigma machine. Turing contributed to early computer designs at the National Physical Laboratory and at Manchester University, while also being interested in topics such as mathematical biology and chemistry.

One of Turing's greatest contributions to computing was the development of the Turing machine, a hypothetical device which can manipulate symbols on a strip of tape according to a table of rules. It can simulate the logic of any computer algorithm and serves as a useful model for explaining the CPU functions of a computer. The Turing machine can even be applied to modern computing, demonstrating what real computers can compute, the ability to enlarge storage space, and generally being a simpler way to explain how any computer works.

Turing also pioneered the field of artificial intelligence, especially with the development of the Turing test. The Turing test addresses the issue with artificial intelligence, defining an "intelligent" machine by stating that a computer could "think" if a human could not tell it apart from another human by conversation alone. It revolutionized the way people viewed artificial intelligence, a debate which continues to this day. Turing's legacy had a great impact on the development of modern artificial intelligence while also creating useful side products such as the popular CAPTCHA test.

Turing's contributions to the world of computing as we know it are great, but sadly, he tragically left our world too soon. On June 7, 1954, Turing was found dead, presumably from ingesting an apple poisoned with cyanide. Nobody knows for sure, but it's suspected that he committed suicide. Early that year, he had been persecuted for engaging in homosexual relationships, which was outlawed at the time, and chose to go through chemical castration rather than be imprisoned. Almost sixty years after his death, the British government posthumously pardoned under the royal prerogative of mercy on December 2013 following a large petition movement, laying rest to the unfortunate circumstances of the time.