Alan Turing
English computer scientist (1912–1954)
Alan Turing: computation, codebreaking and early computers
A mathematical idea before the computer age
Turing entered Cambridge in 1931 and published “On Computable Numbers” in 1936. His universal-machine concept described how one machine could carry out different formal procedures, a foundational idea for computing. The paper preceded the electronic computers with which his name later became associated.
Secret wartime work
During the Second World War, Turing worked at Bletchley Park on German encrypted communications. His role in the effort against Enigma was kept secret at the time. It was one part of a large collaborative codebreaking operation, rather than the achievement of a lone inventor.
Building and remembering
Turing joined the National Physical Laboratory in 1945 and worked on the design of the Automatic Computing Engine. He moved to Manchester’s computer laboratory in 1948. Prosecuted in 1952 for a relationship with another man, he was later commemorated by English Heritage with a plaque at his London birthplace.