Turing Alan Turing Alan Turning

Turing

Alan Turing

Alan Turning was born in England in 1912, and his natural aptitude for mathematics and the sciences was noticed early on (Wikipedia). He attended the Sherborne School from 1926 to 1931, where instructors were frustrated by his single-mindedness, but he graduated regardless and began studying at King's College at Cambridge University (Wikipedia; Hodges). While in attendance there, Turning's subjects of supreme curiosity were quantum mechanics, probability, and logic, all of which would end up playing a key role in his major contributions to the world of computer science and mathematics in general (Hodges). Despite his early death just a few weeks shy of his forty-second birthday, Turing made so many important advances and contributions to computer science the he was named one of the century's most important people (Wikipedia).

Turning's achievements were accomplished not simply because he had a brilliant mind for mathematics and logic, but also because he had an innate mechanical genius as well. This is not to say that he didn't make mistakes or come to false conclusions, as documents concerning his design of one his most famous contributions, the Bombe, clearly show; Turning was as human as anyone, and though he had an astounding mind he was also a very careful scientist, and quite willing to acknowledge errors when he had made them (Copeland). His discerning mind was able to cut through accepted facts, even facts he had previously asserted, in order to come to the truth. This is, in fact, what eventually made the Enigma successful, and what led to the other contributions Turning was able to make to the fields mathematics and certain scientific fields both before and after World War II.

It is partially for his work during the war that Turing is especially remembered, however, and most especially for the Bombe. This was a machine developed by Turing and a partner for the British Secret Service that was able to break codes made by Enigma, the Germans encrypting machine (Ellsbury). This machine was also one of the first true computing machines, and its level of logical simplicity and mechanical complexity are evidence of Turing's supreme genius in this area (Ellsbury). Not only did this machine revolutionize cryptography, which in itself made a giant contribution to the world of computer science, it also provided a great deal of information that was used by the Allies in order to win the war (Wikiepedia; Ellsbury). The Bombe in and of itself, however, does not constitute Turing's single greatest achievement in the world of computer science or logic.