Alan Turing

Alan Turing Born

Jun 23, 1912

Alan Turing was born in Paddington, London. His parents were Julius Mathison and Ethel Sara Turing.

Attended Sherborne School

1926

After being allowed to attend school despite his irregular ideas, Turing met Christopher Morcom who shared a similar intellect and inspired Turing to continue his passion. Morcom had a sudden death in 1930.

Attended University of Cambridge

1931

Enrolled to study mathematics. Turing was able to freely study his own passion.

Fellowship at King's College

1934

Turing was elected for a fellowship because of his research in probability theory.

The Turing Machine

1936

Releasing his paper, "On Computable Numbers with an application to the Entscheidungsproblem", Turing explained the model of the Turing machine and how it can use the digital computer to compute.

Attends Princeton University

1936

Turing goes to America to continue his study in mathematics and is awarded a PhD.

Bletchley Park

1938

Turing returns to King's College and joins the Government Code and Cypher School. After the war with Germany is declared, Turing goes to Bletchley Park, Buckinghamshire.

Bombe

1939

Turing and others develop a code-breaking machine for Enigma decryption, Bombe. It was used by the Allies for military intelligence and decoded thousands of messages a month.

Hut 8

1941

Turing leaded the team "Hut 8" at Bletchley, which helped in decrypting the German naval signals. This gave a major advantage to the Allies during the Battle of the Atlantic.

OBE Award

1945

For his work in code breaking, Turing was made on Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire at the end of the war.

National Physical Laboratory (NPL)

1946

After the end of the war, Turing was recruited by the NPL to create an electronic computer. He publishes a paper that explains a detailed design of a computer with a stored-program.

Deputy Director

1948

Turing is made the deputy director of the Computing Laboratory at Manchester University. He worked on the Manchester computer project which was influenced by his Turing machine.

First-ever Programming Manual

1948

At Manchester, Turing writes a programming system used in the Ferranti Mark I. It was the first digital computer to become marketable.

Artificial Intelligence

1950

Comparing machinery with how a human brain works, Turing discovered and researched artificial intelligence. He then developed the Turing test which helped to determine the possibilities on if a computer can "think".

Royal Society

1951

Turing was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of London based on his work over the last 15 years, which was a very high honor for him to receive.

Injustice for Turing

1952

The police learned of Turing's sexual relationship with another man. Turing is convicted of "gross indecency" and instead of going to jail, chooses to receive hormone "therapy" for a year. Because of this, he was given a criminal record and no longer able to work for the Government Communications Headquarters.

"The Chemical Basis of Morphogenesis"

1952

Turing used Manchester's Ferranti Mark I computer to model his research of artificial life. He was in the middle of looking at the anatomical structures in both plants and animals.

Turing's End

Jun 7, 1954

A year after the cruel treatment by authorities, Turing was found dead in his bed due to cyanide poisoning with a half-eaten apple beside his bed. The coroner's verdict was suicide, however it is also possible that it was an accident. In 2013, Queen Elizabeth II granted Turing a royal pardon.