Alan Turing was a British mathematician, code breaker, and a pioneer who developed the pathways to modern computer science. Born in 23 June 1912 in London, Turing showed early signs of high levels of intelligence, which were evident to his teachers. His intelligence led him to his interests in the maths (Biography.) He attended Shelborne School at the age of 13. Turing attended the prestigious Cambridge University where he proved a theorem which stated “that automatic computation cannot solve all mathematical problems (BBC.)” This concept became known as the Turing machine, which is considered by many the foundation for the modern theory of computation. Early on, Turing’s gift for the maths and sciences was recognized, …show more content…
Because computer science was not yet invented, Turing did not have a specific interest in computer science per se, but rather, his interests and gifts in the math and sciences helped him develop the earliest versions of modern computer science. However, his early interests in those subjects was not respected by all. Many of his teachers dismissed his gifts and intelligence, and they scoffed at it. Overall, Turing’s mathematical and scientific genius cannot be dismissed. As a child, he was able to solve advanced algebraical problems and calculus, and in addition, when he came across Einstein’s work in 1927, Turing was able to extrapolate questions from the work even when Einstein did explicitly state his intentions. From his early schooling, he went on to excel in his collegiate studies at first, Cambridge, and then he studied at Princeton University. There, he worked on quantum mechanics as well as advanced number …show more content…
During the war, the Germans has a machine called “Enigma.” Enigma would basically code a message, so hard to decipher, many thought it would be impossible to crack. It took months and years to try to figure out. Turing worked for the Government Code and Cypher School, and he led a group called Hut 8, where they committed themselves to crack Enigma, the machine that was on the forefront of machine coding at its time. Turing’s improvements on the Polish bombe method helped find settings on the Enigma machine. His mathematical genius helped him intercept and crack codes sent by Germans, and his achievements helped end the war 2-4 years earlier than it would have if he did not crack the code