Alan Mathison Turing(23 June 1912-7 June 1954) was an English computer scientist,mathematician,logician,cryptanalyst and theoretical biologist.He was highly influential in the development of theoretical computer science,providing a formalisation of the concept of algorithm and computation with Turing machine, which can be considered a model of a general purpose computer.And he is widely considered to be the father of theoretical computer science and artificial intelligence.
The most famous story about Turing is during the World War Two, German scientist developed a machine called Enigma and Nazis force used it to communicate with each troops, this machine and code was unbreakable at that time which caused Allied many losses. Turing worked for the Government Code and Cypher School,Britain's codebreaking centre. For a time he led Hut 8,the section responsible for German naval cryptanalysis. He devised a number of techniques for speeding the breaking of German ciphers, including improvements to the pre-war Polish bombe method, an electromechanical machine that could find settings for the Enigma machine.Turing played a pibotal role in cracking intercepted coded messages that enabled the Allies to defeat the Nazis in many crucial engagements, including the Battle of the Atlantic; It has been estimated that this work shortened the war in Europe by more than two years and saved over fourteen million lives.
After the war, he worked at the National Physical Laboratory,and he designed the ACE here, and it was the first designs for a stored program computer. He helped develop the Manchester computers in 1948.
But unfortunately ,Turing was prosecuted in 1952 for homosexual acts, when " gross indecency" was still criminal in the UK. He accepted chemical castration treatment, with DES(a synthetic,non-steroidal estrogen of the stilbestrol group,from about 1940 to 1971 ,DES was given to pregnant women in the mistaken belief it would reduce the risk of pregenancy complications and losses). Turing died in 1954, Police determined his death as suicide,because they found a bit apple which was covered by cyanide poisoning, but it has been noted that the known evidence is also consistent with accidental poisoning.
In 2009,following an Internet campaign,British Prime Minister Gorden Brown made an official public apology on behalf of the British government for "the appalling way he was treated." Queen Elizabeth granted him a posthumous pardon in 2013.The Alan Turing law is now an informal term for a 2017 law in the United Kingdom that retroactively pardons men cautioned or convicted under historical legislation that outlawed homosexual acts.
If you want to know more about Turing's story of Enigma, recommend to watch the movie "The imitation Game"
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