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Alan Turing Born
Alan Turing was born on June 23, 1912 in Maida Vale, London, England. -
Attended Sherborne School
At an early age, Turing displayed signs of high intelligence. At the age of 13, he attended Sherborne School, a well-known independent school, where gained an interest in science and math. -
Attended King's College
In 1931, Turing attended King's College, otherwise known as the University of Cambridge, as an undergraduate, where he gained first-class honors in mathematics. After his dissertation in which he proved the central limit theorem, he was elected a fellow of King's College. -
Published "On Computable Numbers, with an Application to the Entscheidungsproblem"
In 1936, Turing published his paper "On Computable Numbers, with an Application to the Entscheidungsproblem", in which he proved that his "universal computing machine" would be capable of performing any mathematical computation if it were representable as an algorithm. -
Received Ph.D. from Princeton University
From 1936-1938, Alan Turing studied at Princeton University where he studied cryptology and built three of four stages of an electro-mechanical binary multiplier in addition to his purely mathematical work. -
Specified the Bombe
During World War II, Turing worked part-time at the GC&CS, the British code breaking organization. During this time, he specified the Bombe, which was an electromechanical device used to help decipher German Enigma encrypted signals. -
Solved the German naval Enigma
In December 1939, Turing solved the essential part of the naval indicator system of the German naval Enigma. He decided to take on the difficult issue of the German naval Enigma because no one else was. -
Devised "Turingery"
In July 1932, Turing devised a technique termed Turingery for use against the Lorenz cipher messages produced by the Germans' new encryption machine. -
Worked for the National Physical Laboratory
In the mid-1940s, Turing began working for the National Physical Laboratory in London. He led the design work for the Automatic Computing Engine and ultimately created a groundbreaking blueprint for store-program computers. Its concept was used as a model by tech corporations worldwide for several years, influencing many computer models. -
Presented the First Detailed Design of a Stored-Program Computer
On February 19, 1946, Turing presented a paper which was the first detailed design of a stored-program computer. This led to the creation of the Automatic Computing Engine at the National Physical Laboratory. -
Appointed Reader at the Victoria University of Manchester
In 1948, Turing was appointed Reader in the Mathematics Department at the Victoria University of Manchester. The title of reader denotes an appointment for a senior academic with a distinguished international reputation in research or scholarship. -
Became Deputy Director of the Computing Machine Laboratory
In 1949, Turing became Deputy Director of the Computing Machine Laboratory where he worked on software for one of the earliest stored program computers, known as the Manchester Mark 1. -
Finished Writing Turochamp
In 1948, Turing worked with a former undergraduate colleague, D. G. Champernowne, to write a chess program for a computer that did not exist yet. It was completed in 1950 and dubbed the Turochamp. However, when he attempted to implement it on a Ferranti Mark 1, the computer lacked the power to execute the program. -
Proposed the Turing Test
In 1950, Turing published "Computing Machinery and Intelligence" in which he proposed an experiment that became known as the Turing Test, which is was an attempt to define a standard for a machine to be called "intelligent". He also addressed the problem of artificial intelligence. -
Published "The Chemical Basis of Morphogenesis"
In 1952, Turing turned to mathematical biology, publishing "The Chemical Basis of Morphogenesis". His central interest was understanding the existence of Fibonacci numbers in plant structures.
