Alan Turing
was born on June 23, 1912, in London.In
his paper that he wrote in 1936, he proved that there the universal algorithmic
method of determining truth in mathematics cannot exist, and he also proved that
mathematics will always contain undividable propositions. That same paper also
introduced his new machine, called the “Turing Machine”.
Alan
Mathison Turing was born in Maida Vale, London, England. Evan when he was just
a boy, he showed signs of high intelligence. When
Turing attended the well-known independent Sherborne School at the age of 13,
he became particularly interested in math and science.
After
finishing school at Sheborne, he enrolled at King’s College, University of Cambridge.
He studied there from 1931-1934. During this time he wrote his dissertation,
and proved the central limit theorem. In 1936 he wrote a paper on“Computable Numbers, with an Application to
the Entsch dungs problem," in which he presented the notion of
a universal machine (later called the “Universal Turing Machine," and then
the "Turing machine") capable of computing anything that is
computable: The central concept of the modern computer was based on Turing’s
paper.
Over the next two years, Turing studied
mathematics and cryptology at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton,
New Jersey. After receiving his Ph.D. from Princeton University in 1938, he
returned to Cambridge, and then took a part-time position with the Government
Code and Cypher School, a British code-breaking organization. Turing was prosecuted in 1952 for homosexual acts, when it was still criminalized in the UK. He accepted treatment with estrogen injections as an alternative to prison. Turing died in 1954, 16 days before his 42nd birthday, from cyanide poisoning. An inquest determined his death a suicide, but it has been noted that the known evidence is equally consistent with accidental poisoning. In 2009, following an Internet campaign, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown made an official public apology on behalf of the British government for "the appalling way he was treated". Queen Elizabeth II granted him pardon in 2013.