He was credited with speeding up the breaking of German ciphers during WWII by collaborating with Polish cryptographers who had designed an electro-mechanical machine, the “bombe,” which could potentially crack Enigma code quicker than hand codes. Equipment used by codebreakers who worked with Alan Turing during World War IIĭespite his father’s initial protestations, Turing learned to program and became a pioneering code-breaker.

During World War II, he worked for the British Government Code and Cypher School at Bletchley Park, where he led an entire division dedicated to German naval cryptanalysis. In 1938, Alan Turing graduated from Princeton University with a Ph.D. At the same time, he set out and proved the halting problem for computer programs to be undecidable: not solvable no matter how much they are interrogated. He graduated with a degree in mathematics from King’s College at Cambridge University and published an unprovable theorem demonstrating that some mathematical questions can never be answered by computation. Though he was born in Maida Vale, London, Turing grew up in southern England. Quick Facts Full Name Alan Turing Birth JDeath JNet Worth NA AwardsĬhildren None Nationality English Place of Birth London, United Kingdom Fields of Expertise Institutions University of Cambridge Contributions Turing Machine Turing was highly influential in the development of theoretical computer science, providing a formalization of the concepts of algorithm and computation with the Turing machine, which can be considered a model for a general-purpose computer. He is best known, however, for his 1936 paper on the “Turing Machine,” which defines the conceptual framework of a theoretical device that manipulates symbols according to rules.

Turing’s work on the Entscheidungsproblem led him to invent a universal computing machine which encapsulates the fundamental principles of computers.Īlan Mathison Turing was an English mathematician, computer scientist, codebreaker and philosopher known for his Turing Test, an imitation game.

Turing aided in decoding encrypted messages intercepted by the Allies during WWII which were thought to have shortened the war in Europe by two years and saved up to 14 million lives.

Alan Turing is best known for his 1936 paper “Turing Machine” that explained a theoretical device that could manipulate symbols according to rules.

Alan Turing was a mathematician, computer scientist, codebreaker, and philosopher.

Alan Turing by Andrew Hodges