See more
Who really invented the computer?
Charles BabbageComputer / InventorEnglish mathematician and inventor Charles Babbage is credited with having conceived the first automatic digital computer. During the mid-1830s Babbage developed plans for the Analytical Engine. Although it was never completed, the Analytical Engine would have had most of the basic elements of the present-day computer.
What was Alan Turing's first invention?
the universal Turing machineTuring's first invention was the universal Turing machine. It was essentially a machine that could perform any mathematical operation, and its design laid the groundwork for all modern computers.
Which computer did Alan Turing build?
the Automatic Computing Engine (ACE.)In March 1946 Turing produced a detailed design for what was called the Automatic Computing Engine (ACE.) This was a digital computer in the modern sense, storing programs in its memory.
What did Alan Turing do for computer science?
He invented one of the core concepts of theoretical computer science (the Turing machine), while also building practical computing machines that helped crack the Enigma code – an accomplishment that would remain secret for many years after.
Who is father of AI?
John McCarthyAbstract: If John McCarthy, the father of AI, were to coin a new phrase for "artificial intelligence" today, he would probably use "computational intelligence." McCarthy is not just the father of AI, he is also the inventor of the Lisp (list processing) language.
Who broke Enigma code?
Alan Turing was a brilliant mathematician. Born in London in 1912, he studied at both Cambridge and Princeton universities. He was already working part-time for the British Government's Code and Cypher School before the Second World War broke out.
What is Alan Turing most famous for?
Turing's most notable work today is as a computer scientist. In 1936, he developed the idea for the Universal Turing Machine, the basis for the first computer. And he developed a test for artificial intelligence in 1950, which is still used today.
How many lives did Alan Turing save?
It is estimated that Turing's work shortened the war by two years and saved 14 million lives.
Was Alan Turing a genius?
Alan Turing (1912-1954) was a British mathematical genius, and a founding father of artificial intelligence (AI) and modern cognitive science.
Who is father of computer science?
Babbage is sometimes referred to as "father of computing." The International Charles Babbage Society (later the Charles Babbage Institute) took his name to honor his intellectual contributions and their relation to modern computers.
Is the Turing machine still used today?
Turing machines are still used today in computer science as a research and teaching tool, as it's a simple way to model what happens in a CPU.
How much did Alan Turing get paid?
about five million dollarsAlan Turing made about five million dollars. He mainly obtained income from his successful mathematical profession. Turing got his mathematics degree from Kings College in 1934. He later pursued a doctorate on the same subject from Princeton University, completing it in 1938.
What is Alan Turing most famous for?
Turing's most notable work today is as a computer scientist. In 1936, he developed the idea for the Universal Turing Machine, the basis for the first computer. And he developed a test for artificial intelligence in 1950, which is still used today.
How many lives did Alan Turing save?
It is estimated that Turing's work shortened the war by two years and saved 14 million lives.
Was Alan Turing a genius?
Alan Turing (1912-1954) was a British mathematical genius, and a founding father of artificial intelligence (AI) and modern cognitive science.
When did Alan Turing invent the Turing machine?
1936The Turing machine was invented in 1936 by Alan Turing, who called it an "a-machine" (automatic machine).
What did Turing do after the Turing machine?
After the Turing Machine, Turing did not make any significant contribution to the Computer science, be they theoretical or practical contributions to the computer circuitry or algorithms. He helped building some specialized machines for code cracking (although his theoretical contribution in cryptography was huge). In 1946, Turing also produced a theoretical paper on a computer with a stored program, but he definitely was not a pioneer in this area. Later, in 1948, Turing, as a head of computing laboratory, contributed to the programming of Manchester Mark 1 computer.
Who was the first person to design a computer?
John von Neumann in 1945 proposed the first detailed and practical design of a digital electronic computer running a stored program. Since then, von Neuman was a key figure in the design and construction of first digital computers including EDVAC, IAS and IBM 701. He also contributed heavily to the area of programming, most notably - algorithm design, random number generation, computer simulation, linear optimization, and even debugging;
Why is the computer important?
Computers are apart of the latest paradigm of problem solving through computational means. And we are currently solving those problems differently than we did the past and improving their performance and cost. That is the significance of computers.
When was the EDVAC computer invented?
in 1949 , almost simultaneously, teams of US and UK scientists built machines based on von Neumann architecture. Maurice Wilkes et al built EDSAC computer in Cambridge, while EDVAC computer was built in the US after 3 years of procrastination.
When did the idea of a machine that runs a stored program start?
The idea of a machine that runs a stored program existed for centuries - as many noted, Charles Babbage devised an idea of Difference engine in XIX century. But the active work on programmable computers started in only 1930’s. On the one hand, many tasks in areas such as ballistics, cryptography or nuclear physics required fast, flexible computers. On the other hand, th
Who is the father of computer science?
Turing is certainly one of the fathers of computer science, but I belive it is a step too far to assign singular origination to Turing for that discipline. Turing was pivotal in making the connection between algorithmic reasoning and physical computers, as well as discovering (or creating - a very philosophical question) the concept of universality of computing, which later led to the concept of turing completeness. However others, such as George Boole (boolean algebra), Ada Lovelace (software), Claude Shannon (information theory), Alonzo Church (lambda calculus) and maybe Jon Von Neumann (computer architecture) or Grace Hopper (compiler) or John McCarthy or Marvin Minsky (both honorable mention), also contributed in an essential way to create the new science.
Who is the father of artificial intelligence?
I would consider Turing to be the father of the philosophy of artificial intelligence. He was certainly among the first, if not the actual first person to explore the concept of thinking machines. This includes his proposal for a machine intelligence test that he referred to as an “Imitation Game”, but that is now known as “The Turing test”. However his primary focus was the on idea of machine intelligence. The test was more of an illustration.
Why did Alan Turing create the computer?
In 1936, Turing invented the computer as part of his attempt to solve a fiendish puzzle known as the Entscheidungsproblem. This mouthful was a big headache for mathematicians at the time, who were attempting to determine whether any given mathematical statement can be ...
What was Turing's contribution to the world?
During the second world war, he worked as a codebreaker for the UK government, attempting to decode the Enigma cipher machine encryption devices used by the German military.
How did Enigma work?
Enigma was a typewriter-like device that worked by mixing up the letters of the alphabet to encrypt a message. UK spies were able to intercept German transmissions, but with nearly 159 billion billion possible encryption schemes, they seemed impossible to decode.
What did Turing do after the war?
After the war, Turing continued to develop his ideas about computer science. His work led to the construction of the first true computers, but his most famous work came in 1950 when he published a paper asking “can machines think?”.
Who developed the bombe?
Building on work by Polish mathematicians, Turing and his colleagues at the codebreaking centre Bletchley Park developed a machine called the bombe capable of scanning through these possibilities.
Who is the father of computer science?
Key facts. Often considered the father of modern computer science, Alan Turing was famous for his work developing the first modern computers, decoding the encryption of German Enigma machines during the second world war, and detailing a procedure known as the Turing Test, forming the basis for artificial intelligence.
Who is the Church-Turing thesis?
This is known as the Church–Turing thesis, after the work of US mathematician Alonzo Church, who Turing would go on to study his doctorate under at Princeton University in the United States.
Who is Alan Turing?
(Show more) Alan Turing, in full Alan Mathison Turing, (born June 23, 1912, London, England—died June 7, 1954, Wilmslow, Cheshire), British mathematician and logician who made major contributions to mathematics, cryptanalysis, logic, philosophy, and mathematical biology and also to the new areas later named computer science, ...
Where did Turing spend his time?
Turing spent the remainder of his short career at Manchester, where he was appointed to a specially created readership in the theory of computing in May 1953. From 1951 Turing had been working on what is now known as artificial life.
What was the name of the German machine that was used to break code?
The Bomba depended for its success on German operating procedures, and a change in those procedures in May 1940 rendered the Bomba useless. During the autumn of 1939 and the spring of 1940, Turing and others designed a related, but very different, code-breaking machine known as the Bombe .
Why is the Church-Turing thesis important?
The claim is important because it marks out the limits of human computation.
What did Turing do in his early life?
Early life and career. The son of a civil servant, Turing was educated at a top private school. He entered the University of Cambridge to study mathematics in 1931. After graduating in 1934, he was elected to a fellowship at King’s College (his college since 1931) in recognition of his research in probability theory.
What did Turing call an effective method for solving a problem?
What mathematicians called an “effective” method for solving a problem was simply one that could be carried by a human mathematical clerk working by rote. In Turing’s time, those rote-workers were in fact called “computers,” and human computers carried out some aspects of the work later done by electronic computers.
What was Turing's method?
Turing’s method (but not so much Church’s) had profound significance for the emerging science of computing. Later that year Turing moved to Princeton University to study for a Ph.D. in mathematical logic under Church’s direction (completed in 1938). Britannica Quiz. Computers and Technology Quiz.
What is Turing's role in computer science?
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.
Who is Alan Turing?
Alan Mathison Turing was an English mathematician, computer scientist, codebreaker and philosopher known for his Turing Test, an imitation game. 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.
How did Turing die?
Historians have different interpretations of how Turing died. Some believe he ingested the cyanide that killed him accidentally. Turing set up a process to dissolve gold with potassium cyanide in his spare room. The autopsy findings suggested that the poison was inhaled, and Turing would often eat an apple before bed which would be discarded half-eaten. Furthermore, Turing is said to have borne his legal setbacks and hormone treatment well “with good humor” up until his death.
What did Turing do at Sherborne?
When Turing attended Sherborne at 13 years old he became especially interested in math and science. After finishing his studies at Sherborne, Turing enrolled in Cambridge to study mathematics and was elected a fellow upon graduation.
What did Turing do with Ashby?
Turing became interested in mathematical biology, and joined with William Ross Ashby to found a mathematical biology research group named ‘ The Ratio Club’, for which Turing proposed his new theory on morphogenesis.
How old was Turing when he started working on the Enigma code?
Turing was extremely intelligent and explained his ideas in a way that everyone could easily understand. By the age of 24 , he started working on cracking the Enigma Code, which turned out to be more difficult than anticipated but by 1939 had broken both the German Naval and Air Force codes.
Where did Alan Turing go to college?
In 1938, Alan Turing graduated from Princeton University with a Ph.D. in mathematics. 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.
Overview
Alan Mathison Turing OBE FRS was an English mathematician, computer scientist, logician, cryptanalyst, philosopher, and theoretical biologist. Turing was highly influential in the development of theoretical computer science, providing a formalisation of the concepts of algorithm and computation with the Turing machine, which can be considered a model of a general-purpose computer. H…
Early life and education
Turing was born in Maida Vale, London, while his father, Julius Mathison Turing (1873–1947), was on leave from his position with the Indian Civil Service (ICS) at Chatrapur, then in the Madras Presidency and presently in Odisha state, in India. Turing's father was the son of a clergyman, the Rev. John Robert Turing, from a Scottish family of merchants that had been based in the Netherlands and inclu…
Career and research
When Turing returned to Cambridge, he attended lectures given in 1939 by Ludwig Wittgenstein about the foundations of mathematics. The lectures have been reconstructed verbatim, including interjections from Turing and other students, from students' notes. Turing and Wittgenstein argued and disagreed, with Turing defending formalism and Wittgenstein propounding his view that m…
Personal life
In 1941, Turing proposed marriage to Hut 8 colleague Joan Clarke, a fellow mathematician and cryptanalyst, but their engagement was short-lived. After admitting his homosexuality to his fiancée, who was reportedly "unfazed" by the revelation, Turing decided that he could not go through with the marriage.
In January 1952, Turing was 39 when he started a relationship with Arnold Mur…
Legacy
Turing was appointed an officer of the Order of the British Empire in 1946. He was also elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 1951.
Turing has been honoured in various ways in Manchester, the city where he worked towards the end of his life. In 1994, a stretch of the A6010 road (the Manchester city intermediate ring road) was named "Alan Turing Way". A bridg…
Further reading
• Turing, Alan (1950). "Computing Machinery and Intelligence" (PDF). Mind. 49 (236): 433–460. doi:10.1093/mind/LIX.236.433.
• Copeland, B. Jack (ed.). "The Mind and the Computing Machine: Alan Turing and others". The Rutherford Journal.
• Copeland, B. Jack (ed.). "Alan Turing: Father of the Modern Computer". The Rutherford Journal.
External links
• Oral history interview with Nicholas C. Metropolis, Charles Babbage Institute, University of Minnesota. Metropolis was the first director of computing services at Los Alamos National Laboratory; topics include the relationship between Turing and John von Neumann
• How Alan Turing Cracked The Enigma Code Imperial War Museums