Alan Turing’s WWII Contribution

“We can only see a short distance ahead, but we can see plenty there that needs to be done.” On June 23, 1912, Alan M Turing was born in London, England, and eventually became a noted British mathematician, logician and cryptographer. He is recognized as the father of modern computer science and artificial intelligence. In 1936 he invented the “Turing Machine,” an abstract information-processing mathematical model that foreshadowed digital computers.

During WWII he worked for the Government Code and Cypher School and was a member of their top-secret code-breaking team at England’s Bletchley Park. There he played a key role in cracking the German Naval codes that helped the Allies defeat the Nazis during critical battles, especially the Battle of the Atlantic. It is estimated that his efforts shortened the war in Europe by more than two years and thus saved over fourteen million lives. He continued to make significant contributions after the war working first for the National Physical Laboratory designing one of the first models for a stored-program computer and later at Victoria University of Manchester where he helped develop Manchester computers.

In 1952, his brilliant life and significant contributions were quickly overshadowed when he was prosecuted for homosexual acts, considered criminal in the UK and died two years later from cyanide poisoning. While there has been ongoing debate about whether his death was accidental or a suicide, in 2009 the British Prime Minister speaking on behalf of the British government gave an official public apology for “the appalling way he was treated.” Then in 2013 he also received a posthumous pardon from Queen Elizabeth II.