In 2014, “The Imitation Game” was released in theaters. Along with the success of this movie, it also increased the public’s attention on Alan Turing, a historical figure that inspired this movie. In this post, I will be explaining who Alan Turing is and what accomplishments he had made.
Alan Turing was born in June 23, 1912 at London, England. Turing showed talent in mathematics and science from a young age, and this eventually leads him to major in mathematics. After his graduation, Turing starts working in GC&CS (Government Code and Cypher School), where he deeply gets engaged to code breaking. When World War II occurs in 1940, Turing gets recruited to conduct Hut 8, a project to break an enigma used by the German navy. This is where he comes up with his most famous invention, the Turing Machine. I will be talking more specifically about the Turing Machine on my next post. He is also famous for coming up with a Turing Test. I will be elaborating on this subject on my next post as well.
Although Alan Turing is famous for his incredible works, he is also famous for being a homosexual scientist. Unfortunately, during his time, homosexuality was prohibited by law. Turing had to choose between either prison sentence or chemical castration. Although chemical castration will lead to physical pain, Turing chose this method since he would not be able to continue if imprisoned. After his conviction, Turing was found dead by his cleaner on June 8, 1954 due to cyanide poisoning. An autopsy was performed, and it determined that Turing committed suicide by biting into an apple injected with cyanide. People claim that Turing chose this specific method for suicide since he considered this to be the most “feminine” death. Although there are some people who claim that this was just a simple scientific accident, many believe that Turing committed suicide due to the change he experienced in his physical appearance by receiving chemical castration. Fortunately, Turing was granted a posthumous pardon on 2013.
Dr. Andrew Hodges, Alan Turing: Creator of Modern Computing. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.co.uk/timelines/z8bgr82
The Wonderful World of Algorithms 