Alan Turing (23 June 1912 - 7 June 1954)

Alan Turing, the father of modern computing, was born 100 years ago today.

Alan Turing

His work in the 1930’s on mathematical computation led him to the idea that a machine could perform the tasks of any other machine, or in other words, is “provably capable of computing anything that is computable”. He called this a 'Universal Machine' (now known as a Universal Turing machine), that is, a machine that can have more than one use. This paper was a blueprint for the modern computer.

During World War 2, Turing worked at Bletchley Park and tackled the problem of the German naval Enigma code and was one of the chief architects of deciphering it with his design of the bombe, the cryptanalytic machine. Germany then developed another cipher machine, the Tunny, much more difficult to break. Turing devised a technique for doing so, known as Turingery.

On 19 February 1946, he presented a paper which was the first detailed design of a stored-program computer. In 1948, he went to Manchester University and as Deputy Director of the Computing Laboratory, he worked on the first stored-program computer - the Manchester Mark 1 and used his experience at Bletchley Park to design input/output devices for it. 

Alan Turing with two colleagues and a Ferranti computer in January 1951. (SSPL/Getty Images)

He continued theoretical work and in 1950 published "Computing machinery and intelligence", expounding the “Turing Test” for artificial intelligence, that a computer could be said to "think" if a human interrogator could not tell it apart, through conversation, from a human being. He said it would take 100 years before it might be possible, that was in 1952.

In 1952, Turing’s house was burgled by a man that Turing knew and he reported it to the police. The police investigation questioned Turing’s association with the man and led to a charge and conviction of gross indecency. Given a choice of prison or chemical castration, Turing chose the latter.

On 8 June 1954 he was found dead of cyanide poisoning, presumed suicide.

His mother and family remained unaware of his vital work at Bletchley Park due to the Official Secrets Act.

In 1999, Time Magazine named Turing as one of the 100 Most Important People of the 20th century for his role in the creation of the modern computer, and stated: "The fact remains that everyone who taps at a keyboard, opening a spreadsheet or a word-processing program, is working on an incarnation of a Turing machine."

Alan Turing was a visionary and should have been knighted for his contribution to this country and to the war effort, not criminalized.