Alan Turing

20th century · Computer Science, Philosophy of Mind, Cryptography

Alan Turing (1912-1954) was a British mathematician, logician, and cryptanalyst, widely considered the father of theoretical computer science and artificial intelligence. He formalized the concepts of algorithm and computation with the Turing machine, played a pivotal role in breaking German ciphers at Bletchley Park during WWII, and later explored the philosophical implications of machine intelligence. His life was tragically cut short following prosecution for homosexuality.

Notable Works

• On Computable Numbers, with an Application to the Entscheidungsproblem
• Computing Machinery and Intelligence
• The Chemical Basis of Morphogenesis
• Systems of Logic Based on Ordinals
• Report on the applications of probability to cryptography
• Proposed Electronic Calculator (ACE Report)

Chat with Alan Turing on Feynman