Alan Turing: The Legacy of a Pioneer in Computing and AI
Alan Turing (1912-1954), widely considered to be the father of theoretical computer science and artificial intelligence, left an indelible impact on technology and history. His pioneering work laid the foundations for the computers we rely on today.
Born in London in 1912, Turing displayed extraordinary aptitude for mathematics and was hailed as a genius by his primary school headmistress. He was devoted to his studies and, remarkably, cycled 60 miles from Southampton to Sherborne to ensure he did not miss a day of school during the nine-day General Strike of 1926. He was influenced by the work of mathematical physicist Arthur Eddington and John von Neumann, teaching himself quantum physics and becoming fixated with solving Einstein’s advanced problems.
He studied both his undergraduate and master’s degrees in mathematics at King’s College, Cambridge, where he was elected as a Fellow at just 22 years old due to the strength of his dissertation. In 1936, he introduced the concept of the ‘universal computing machine’ or Turing Machine, which he reported could compute anything. He obtained his PhD from Princeton in 1938.
During the Second World War, Turing worked at Bletchley Park, the centre of the British government’s top-secret codebreaking efforts. He played a pivotal role in decrypting intercepted coded messages of German army intelligence, the Enigma Code. The code was thought to be near impossible to break, due to the fact that the codes were changed daily, meaning that previous cryptanalysis would become obsolete. Within 2 years, Turing’s team developed devices that would crack the code and decipher 84,000 messages per month.
His work significantly shortened the war and subsequently, saved countless lives. Some historians estimate that he prevented at least 14 million casualties. For this he was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1946 but his contributions remained hidden to the public due to the Official Secrets Act.
After the war, Turing shifted focus to mathematical biology; exploring genetic algorithms and neuron-modelled computing, predecessors to today’s deep learning and neural networks. He delivered the first public lecture on what is now known as artificial intelligence.
Despite his heroic achievements, Turing faced severe persecution. In 1952, he was prosecuted for “homosexual acts”, which were criminalised in the UK at the time. His security clearance was removed by the Crown and he was subjected to chemical castration for 12 months, a harrowing ordeal that marred his life until his untimely death in 1954, at the age of 41. A post-mortem revealed that he died from a cyanide overdose, and an inquest later ruled his death a suicide.
Although his work was kept secret until the 1970s, a growing movement sought official acknowledgement of his legacy. In response to increasing pressure, in 2009, the UK government issued a public apology. The then Prime Minister Gordon Brown lamented the grave injustice committed against Turing, stating, “On behalf of the British government, and all those who live freely thanks to Alan’s work I am very proud to say: we’re sorry, you deserved so much better.”
Turing was posthumously pardoned by Queen Elizabeth II in 2013 and, in 2016, the government announced the ‘Alan Turing Law’ which would allow for the retroactive pardoning of men cautioned and convicted under historical laws that punished homosexual acts.
Today, Alan Turing is celebrated as one of the greatest war heroes and mathematicians of all time. His likeness appears on the Bank of England’s £50 note, and an audience vote in a 2019 series produced by the BBC named him the greatest person of the 20th century. His work not only innovated aspects of computer science theory, but inspired generations of researchers and inventions that shape our world.
