Alan Turing was a British mathematician who is widely held to be the father of computer science. He developed the concept of a Turing Machine, an early theoretical computer, in the 1930s. The Turing Machine is considered the basis for the modern theory of computation.In the war years he worked as a cryptanylist for the Government at their code breaking centre at Bletchley Park. Here he led a team responsible for breaking the Enigma Code. It's been estimated that the intelligence gathered by this deciphering work brought the war to a close two years before it otherwise would have, thus saving millions of lives.
After the war he continued his work with computers, creating one of the early designs for a stored programme computer and during the late 1940s and early 1950s at Manchester University, his work founded the basis for the field of artificial intelligence.
In 1952 he was prosecuted for homosexual offences. His security clearance was withdrawn and he was chemically castrated.
He committed suicide in 1954.
In 2009 Gordon Brown made an official public apology on behalf of the British Government for the way in which Alan Turing was treated.
| Today's run at 17:23 | |||
| Distance | 4.02 km | Time | 21:24 |
| Pace | 5:20 min/km | Cadence | 81 spm |
There is a fantasic statue of Alan Turing seated on a bench in the middle of Sackville Park in the Village area of Manchester City Centre. Gone but not forgotten.
ReplyDeleteGreat to hear that. Given the number of lives he potentially saved, you'd think they might have a statue of him next to the Cenotaph.
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