Alan Turing

Brief Description: Mathematician; author of the seminal 1950 paper "Computing Machinery and Intelligence"

Further Details:

Widely deemed to be the de facto founder of computer science, Alan Mathison Turing was one of the great pioneers of the computer field. He inspired the now common terms of "The Turing Machine" and "Turing's Test." As a mathematician he applied the concept of the algorithm to digital computers. His research into the relationships between machines and nature created the field of artificial intelligence. His intelligence and foresight made him one of the first to step into the information age.

Upon graduating from King's College, Cambridge, he was made a Fellow and then moved on to Princeton University, where he explored what was later called the "Turing Machine" - essentially the same as today's multi-purpose computers. He described a machine that would read a series of ones and zeros from a tape. These ones and zeros described the steps that needed to be done to solve a particular problem or perform a certain task. The Turing Machine would read each of the steps and perform them in sequence, resulting in the proper answer.

This concept was revolutionary for the time. Most computers in the 1950s were designed for a particular purpose or a limited range of purposes. What Turing envisioned was a machine that could do anything, something that we take for granted today. The method of instructing the computer was very important in Turing's concept. He essentially described a machine which knew a few simple instructions. Making the computer perform a particular task was simply a matter of breaking the job down into a series of these simple instructions. This is identical to the process programmers go through today. He believed that an algorithm could be developed for most any problem. The hard part was determining what the simple steps were and how to break down the larger problems.

During World War II, Turing used his knowledge and ideas in the Department of Communications in Great Britain. There he used his mathematical skills to decipher the codes the Germans were using to communicate. This was an especially difficult task because the Germans had developed a type of computer called the Enigma. It was able to generate a constantly changing code that was impossible for the code breakers to decipher in a timely fashion.

During his time with the Department of Communications in Great Britain, Turing and his fellow scientists worked with a device called COLOSSUS. The COLOSSUS quickly and efficiently deciphered the German codes created by the Enigma. COLOSSUS was essentially a bunch of servomotors and metal, but it was one of the first steps toward the digital computer.

After World War II Turing went on to work for the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) and continued his research into digital computers. Here he worked on developing the Automatic Computing Engine (ACE), one of the first attempts at creating a true digital computer. It was during this time that he began to explore the relationship between computers and nature. He wrote a paper called "Intelligent Machinery" which was later published in 1969. This was one of the first times the concept of artificial intelligence was raised.

Turing was truly one of the great forerunners in the field of computers. Today's computer scientists still refer to his papers. The concept of the algorithm lies at the heart of every computer program for any type of digital computer.

[Biography by John M. Kowalik]