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Alan Turing is born
Alan Turing was born in an affluent part of London, England. -
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Alan Turing
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Turing enrolls at King's College
Alan begins his freshman year at the University of Cambridge (more famously known as King's College) as a mathematics major. -
Turing publishes "On Computable Numbers, with an Application to the Entscheidungsproblem"
Alan proves in this paper that the halting problem and the decision problem are impossible to solve using a Turing machine. -
Alan reveals Turing Machine
Alan reveals his concept of the Turing machine in his paper "On Computable Numbers, with an Application to the Entscheidungsproblem".
It was presented as a hypothetical computing machine that could read in input variables and produce a logical answer. Alan describes how it would function and what hardware would be needed for it to run. Most modern computers are based at least in part on the Turing machine. -
War is Declared
Alan moves to contribute to the war effort at Bletchley Park. Turing works here for many years as a crypt-analyst and helps the Allies win the war with his contributions. -
Turing and associates start work on a machine to decode Enigma messages.
The Germans used what is called an Enigma machine to cipher their messages during WWII. The machine used a series of moving rotors along with other add-ons to complicate the ciphers so that the allied forces could not intercept and read their communications. -
Alan Turing and W G Welchman develop the Bombe
Alan and his associates finish work on the Bombe, a machine based on the work of Polish mathematicians. The machine was used to decode messages sent by the German Enigma machines and was improved in 1941. -
Turing moves to the USA
Alan came to the US to assist with and improve the US Navy's cryptanalytic department. He was not impressed with what was presented to him and there were a lot of difficulties when it came to helping the Navy as Alan was not sure about what secrets he was allowed to share with them. -
Automatic Computing Engine presented
Turing presents the concept and design of the first stored-program computer. Alan was not able to describe his complete ideas as he was still bound by secrecy laws of the British government. -
Alan returns to Cambridge
While Turing didn't forget about computers, his main focus after returning to King's College was neurology and physiology. -
The Turing Test is proposed
Alan publishes "Computing Machinery and Intelligence" where he proposes the Turing Test; a test for intelligence in a computer where a human proctor proposes questions to a human participant and a machine/computer participant via text. If the proctor cannot tell which participant is the computer and which is the human, it is determined that the computer can exhibit intelligent behavior equivalent to a human being. -
Turing charged with gross indecency
After calling the police to report a burglary to his home, Alan reveals that he is in a sexual relationship with another man. England was very intolerant of homosexuality at the time and Turing and his partner were both charged. -
Turing Convicted
Alan and his partner were convicted and Turing was given the choice of prison time or chemical castration. Alan chose the chemical castration route and his body underwent severe changes. -
Found dead
Alan is found dead by his housekeeper. It is determined that he had passed away the night before. He was found next to a half eaten apple, and although the apple itself was not tested, there was cyanide in his system. It is believed that he committed suicide but others still claim murder. -
Royal Pardon
Alan Turing receives a royal pardon from the Queen for his conviction.
