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Alan Turing

Alan Turing
Personal information
Birth date23 June 1912
Birth placeMaida Vale, London, England, United Kingdom
Death date7 June 1954(age 41)
Death placeWilmslow, Cheshire, England, United Kingdom
ResidenceUnited Kingdom
NationalityBritish
FieldsMathematics, Cryptanalysis, Computer science
InstitutionsUniversity of Cambridge
Government Code and Cypher School
National Physical Laboratory
University of Manchester
Alma materKing's College, Cambridge
Princeton University
Doctoral advisorAlonzo Church
Doctoral studentsRobin Gandy
Known forHalting problem
Turing machine
Cryptanalysis of the Enigma
Automatic Computing Engine
Turing Award
Turing Test
Turing patterns
Notable awardsOfficer of the Order of the British Empire
Fellow of the Royal Society

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Alan Mathison Turing, OBE, FRS (c-eniconˈtjʊərɪŋ ; 23 June 1912 � 7 June 1954), was an English mathematician, logician, cryptanalyst and computer scientist. He was highly influential in the development of computer science, providing a formalisation of the concepts of "algorithm" and "computation" with the Turing machine, which played a significant role in the creation of the modern computer. Turing is widely considered to be the father of computer science and artificial intelligence.

During the Second World War, Turing worked for the Government Code and Cypher School at Bletchley Park, Britain's codebreaking centre. For a time he was head of Hut 8, the section responsible for German naval cryptanalysis. He devised a number of techniques for breaking German ciphers, including the method of the bombe, an electromechanical machine that could find settings for the Enigma machine. After the war he worked at the National Physical Laboratory, where he created one of the first designs for a stored-program computer, the ACE.

Towards the end of his life Turing became interested in mathematical biology. He wrote a paper on the chemical basis of morphogenesis, and he predicted oscillating chemical reactions such as the Belousov � Zhabotinsky reaction, which were first observed in the 1960s.

Turing's homosexuality resulted in a criminal prosecution in 1952, when homosexual acts were still illegal in the United Kingdom. He accepted treatment with female hormones (chemical castration) as an alternative to prison. He died in 1954, several weeks before his 42nd birthday, from cyanide poisoning. An inquest determined it was suicide; his mother and some others believed his death was accidental. On 10 September 2009, following an Internet campaign, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown made an official public apology on behalf of the British government for the way in which Turing was treated after the war.

Alan Turing Video

Rare documentary excerpt traces the decline and subsequent death of the mathematical genius and one of the founders of the modern computer. Turing was also one of the leading codebreakers at Bletchley Park during World War Two, and played a leading role in the breaking of the German Enigma codes.
9.93 min. | 4.85 user rating		 We had a gap at the end of Lecture 12 so Richard gives an unplanned and impromptu talk about some of the contributions of the amazing thinker Alan Turing. So much to say, so little time, such fast talking. We chat about 3 different major contributions he made to the world - his decryption work during WWII and the Engima Machine; his abstract model of a computer (the Turing Machine) and what things can be effectively "computed"; and finally, briefly only, his thoughts about what it is to be human and the difference between humans and computers - the Turing Test. Alan Turing is a key figure in the development of computing, indeed if I had to pick just one thinker who was the most amazing he'd get my vote. Richard promises to talk about the Turing Test in more depth in the next extension lecture. Also comes up: Epimenides paradox, non computable functions, the halting problem, U-559, Colin Grazier GC, Anthony Fasson, GC,Tommy Brown, Blade Runner, CAPTCHAs. Errata: My memory was about as reliable as usual - I said Tommy stayed outside in a boat but i've since read that all three swam across and went into the U-559. Humbling bravery. I've also since realised that Colin Grazier was from Tamworth in the UK, not the Tamworth in Australia as I had always thought (why are so many English places named after Australian towns?) Finally, something which actually I did know but still managed to get wrong - the important material salvaged was not a cypher machine but quantities of data <b>...</b>
25.75 min. | 4.83 user rating		 Based on Andrew Hodges' book and Hugh Whitemore's play, this movie analizes the figure of the English mathematician Alan Turing, one of the inventors of the digital computer and of the key figures in the breaking of the Enigma code, used by the Germans to send secret orders to their U-boats in World War II. This scene has been cut off from American release, can't understand why... NO COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT INTENDED SDJ Fanforum forums.delphiforums.com
6.55 min. | 4.88 user rating		 The BBC broadcasted in 1991 the serie 'The dream machine'. This scene is about the tragic story of Alan Turing, the "father" of the modern computer. During the Second World War he devised a number of techniques for breaking German telegraph codes. After the war Alan Turing worked at the National Physical Laboratory, where he created one of the first designs for a stored-program computer, the ACE. This series of the BBC was broadcasted in 1991.
7.43 min. | 4.91 user rating		 100 years after Alan Turing's birth, an international documentary production team is set to take viewers on a journey to rediscover the man and the mystery. Learn more at www.turingfilm.com
1.95 min. | 4.98 user rating
Alan Turing
0.57 min. | 5.0 user rating		 A short video describing the life and unfortunate death of Alan Turing,a homosexual mathematician. For more info, a visit to Bletchley Park is recommended. Music- John Denver "A Song For All Lovers"
2.07 min. | 4.38 user rating		 A hard lesson from history. We can't let it happen again. Please donate to the Ali Forney Center for homeless LGBT youth: www.aliforneycenter.org Video transcript: emptv.com Follow me: twitter.com facebook.com myspace.com
4.45 min. | 4.96 user rating		 Free learning from The Open University www.open.ac.uk --- Sir John Dermot Turing and Martin Bean, OU Vice-Chancellor, officially open the newly refurbished and renamed maths and computing building, 'The Alan Turing building'. --- Alan Turing information on Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org Bletchley Park Museum website www.bletchleypark.org.uk ---
10.38 min. | 4.2 user rating		 Pattern formation and mathematical biology "Turing worked from 1952 until his death in 1954 on mathematical biology, specifically morphogenesis. He published one paper on the subject called "The Chemical Basis of Morphogenesis" in 1952, putting forth the Turing hypothesis of pattern formation.[34] His central interest in the field was understanding Fibonacci phyllotaxis, the existence of Fibonacci numbers in plant structures. He used reactiondiffusion equations which are now central to the field of pattern formation. "
8.00 min. | 4.96 user rating

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Internet regulation at global and local levels - The Guardian Tweet this news
The Guardian--With the amazing legacy we have given the world in computing, mathematics, design and web technologies - viz Charles Babbage, -Alan Turing-, Jonathan Ive and Tim Berners-Lee - we cannot allow America or France to dominate the debates at the - Date : Fri, 27 May 2011 23:07:34 GMT+00:00
Bletchley Park to acquire new Alan Turing artefact - Pink Paper Tweet this news
Pink Paper--Bletchley Park, famous for being the base of wartime code breaker -Alan Turing-, has acquired a new artefact belonging to the computer genius. Bletchley Park, famous for being the base of wartime code breaker -Alan Turing-, has acquired a new - Date : Mon, 16 May 2011 11:16:01 GMT+00:00
Take That tour that?s a record breaker - Manchester Evening News Tweet this news
Manchester Evening News--Fans not used to match day parking should note that traffic signalling will be managed after the concert along -Alan Turing- Way, which means there may be slight delays leaving certain car parks close to the ground, as per usual m - Date : Fri, 03 Jun 2011 11:54:23 GMT+00:00
Barack Obama name-checks Manchester and Alan Turing in historic speech to both ... - Manchester Evening News Tweet this news
Manchester Evening News--He also hailed great UK and US innovators and entrepreneurs, including Manchester's 'father of computing', -Alan Turing-. Mr Obama said: "From Newton and Darwin, to Edison and Einstein, from -Alan Turing- t - Date : Wed, 25 May 2011 16:30:33 GMT+00:00
To do list - Boston Globe Tweet this news
Boston Globe--617-557-2007. www.fordhallforum.org Turning on Turing -Alan Turing-, according to Winston Churchill, was responsible for the single biggest contribution to the Allied victory over the Nazis when he broke the Germans' Enigma machine code - Date : Thu, 07 Apr 2011 06:17:42 GMT+00:00
California Textbooks Might Include Gay Role Models, History - Autostraddle Tweet this news
Autostraddle--The first gay person I ever learned about in school was -Alan Turing-, the computer scientist and philosopher, and it was only because one of the more offensively straight boys dressed up as him for something I'm pretty sure was called - Date : Mon, 04 Apr 2011 17:32:07 GMT+00:00
A New Documentary on Alan Turing - HyperVocal Tweet this news
HyperVocal--The name -Alan Turing- might not mean a whole lot to most people. You might even be scratching your head right now. But what if you learned Turing was a WWII code breaker for England, a pioneer in the field of computer science and artificial i - Date : Mon, 28 Mar 2011 17:57:33 GMT+00:00
California Lawmakers Would Mandate Teaching LGBT History - SexIs Magazine Tweet this news
SexIs Magazine--Law would put Harvey Milk, -Alan Turing-, Bayard Rustin, Barbara Gittings, et. al., in the books. Now that there's no Gov. Schwarzenegger in California, state Sen. Mark D. Leno of San Francisco and other ... - Date : Tue, 05 Apr 2011 15:10:12 GMT+00:00
Developer Week in Review - O'Reilly Radar Tweet this news
O'Reilly Radar--News has emerged of a feature-length documentary in production on the life of -Alan Turing-. If there's a figure in computer science who needs to be better known by the general public, Turing is certainly a good candidate. Howeve - Date : Wed, 06 Apr 2011 15:02:51 GMT+00:00
Can a Computer Think? - Discovery Institute Tweet this news
Discovery Institute---Alan Turing- asked that question in 1950 and proposed a test to determine if a computer could think. Turing, a mathematician and a pioneer in computer science, proposed that it would someday be possible for a sufficiently advanced co - Date : Thu, 31 Mar 2011 15:06:23 GMT+00:00



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