Biography of Alan Mathison Turing

By Hanyang Yu

Alan Mathison Turing (23 June 1912 – 7 June 1954), was an English mathematician, computer scientist, logician, cryptanalyst, philosopher and theoretical biologist. But compared to these names, he is often be called as the father of theoretical computer science and artificial intelligence. [1]

One of his most well-known inventions is Turing test, which was proposed in “Computing Machinery and Intelligence” (Mind, October 1950). The purpose of Turing test is to check if a computer could be said to “think”. Turing test provides several questions for interrogators to ask, and the computers or machines will answer them. After this conversation, if the interrogator cannot tell it apart, which means this computer or machine passes the Turing test. In other words, those machines which passed the test can be called “intelligent”. In fact, Turing test has been put to extensive use in internet.

Turing test is famous, but it is not the reason why Turing is widely considered to be the father of computer science. In 1936, he published a paper titled "On Computable Numbers, with an Application to the Entscheidungsproblem”. In this paper, Turing introduced the concept of the Turing machine (theoretical). This idea laid the foundation for modern computing and that is why Alan Turing is widely considered to be the father of theoretical computer science and artificial intelligence.

During the Second World War, Turing did an important job at Bletchley Park, the breaking of German ciphers. His efforts significantly shortened the war and saved a huge number of lives. However, his work remained a secret for decades, but finally it was recognized by public.

Unfortunately, in 1954, Turing died by suicide at the age of 41. Before that, he met some trouble because he was openly gay at a time when it was illegal in the United Kingdom. In 1952, he was convicted of “gross indecency”, and in 2013, Queen Elizabeth II granted him a posthumous pardon.

Alan Mathison Turing’s profound contributions have left an indelible mark on the world.

References

1. Anthony, B. 2013. Alan Turing: his work and impact. Waltham: Elsevier. pp. 481–485.