Alan Turing and His Importance to the History of Computers

Alan Turing and His Importance to the History of Computers

By Paul Evans

​Begin with this awesome video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Btqro3544p8

The "father" of computer science...

He also, during the 1930s, first came up with the concept of artificial intelligence.

​

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. He is widely considered to be the father of theoretical computer science and artificial intelligence

Digital Technologies by Paul Evans

Alan Turing

Who Was Alan Turing?

Born in England in 1912, Alan Turing was an English mathematician, computer scientist, logician, cryptanalyst, philosopher, and theoretical biologist.

​

He particularly excelled in Mathematics at school.​

Digital Technologies by Paul Evans

Alan Turing

Multiple Choice

When and where was Alan Turing born?

• England in 1918

• Wales in 1908

• England in 1912

• Scotland in 1901

Multiple Choice

Give an example of how much a Mathematical genius he was as a child

• He knew his times tables very well

• He could solve complicated calculus problems in his head before his teachers taught him calculus

• He was very good at working out Pythagoras equations

• He helped Zaphod Beeblebrox invent the Infinite Improbability Drive

The Turing Machine

In college, he invented the concept of the Turing Machine, a theoretical machine that could literally calculate anything imaginably calculable. In his head, he literally formulated the idea of the computer and of computer programs, without computer programs ever having existed.

Digital Technologies by Paul Evans

Alan Turing

Multiple Select

What was special about the "Turing Machine". (There are two correct answers to select in this question.)

• It was the first electronic computer ever built, and was also called Edvac and ENIAC.

• Although it was never actually "built", it was a theoretical machine that predicted all of the things computers could eventually do

• Turing literally formulated the idea of the computer and of computer programs, without computer programs ever having existed

• It was the machine that helped Ada Lovelace and Charles Babbage come up with the idea of the Analytical Engine.

What Alan Turing Did During World War II​

During the Second World War, Turing was asked by the British government to head Britain's codebreaking centre at Bletchley Park, where he devised a number of techniques for speeding the breaking of German ciphers. After many tries, he was able to crack the German Enigma machine, a code making machine that was able to send encrypted messages by German forces of impending battles and attacks.

Digital Technologies by Paul Evans

Alan Turing

Open Ended

What were some of Alan Turing's great achievements during World War 2?

Cracking the Enigma Code

Alan Turing turned the pre-war Polish Bombe Code Breaking machine into an electromechanical machine that could find settings for the Enigma machine, and decrypt messages from the Germans very quickly. Up until then, each set of encrypted German messages were so complicated it would take literally years of human calculations to crack the code… and the German forces changed Enigma’s secret settings EVERY DAY.

Digital Technologies by Paul Evans

Alan Turing

Multiple Choice

What was the name of the German code making machine that Alan Turing tried to crack?

• ENIAC

• Enigma

• Bombe

• Difference Engine

Multiple Choice

What was the name of the German code BREAKING machine that Alan Turing helped create?

• ENIAC

• Enigma

• Bombe

• Difference Engine

Alan Turing, Code Breaker

By doing this, Alan Turing played a hugely important role in cracking intercepted coded messages that helped the Allies (England, France, America, and other countries) to defeat the Axis powers (Germany, Italy and the countries ruled by Nazi and fascist leaders at the time) in many crucial battles and attacks.

Digital Technologies by Paul Evans

Alan Turing

Multiple Choice

Why was Alan Turing's work so important during World War II?

• Because of his work on artificial intelligence

• Because he was a code maker

• Because he was a code breaker

• Because he invented the Difference Engine

How Alan Turing​ Saved Lives

Alan Turing can be said to have possibly shortened World War 2 by about two years and was possibly responsible for saving literally millions of lives from all sides. So secret was the work at Bletchley Park, however, that his work wasn’t allowed to become known to the general public until the 1980s, forty years after the war had finished.

Digital Technologies by Paul Evans

Alan Turing

Fill in the Blanks

Alan Turing, Genius

After the war, Alan Turing worked at the National Physical Laboratory, where he designed the Automatic Computing Engine (ACE), one of the first designs for a stored-program computer. He also dreamt up the concept of artificial intelligence, an idea that scientists are STILL grappling with today!

Digital Technologies by Paul Evans

Alan Turing

Multiple Choice

What computer did Alan Turing create after the war, in 1948

• ENIAC, one of the first designs for a stored-program computer

• EDVAC, one of the first designs for a stored-program computer

• Apple Mac

• Automatic Computing Engine (ACE), one of the first designs for a stored-program computer

Alan Turing, After the War

In 1948, Alan Turing joined Max Newman's Computing Machine Laboratory, at the Victoria University of Manchester, where he helped develop the Manchester computers and became interested in mathematical biology. He wrote important scientific papers on the chemical basis of morphogenesis and predicted oscillating chemical reactions such as the Belousov–Zhabotinsky reaction, first observed in the 1960s. Despite these accomplishments, Turing was never fully recognised in Britain during his lifetime because much of his work was covered by the Official Secrets Act.

Digital Technologies by Paul Evans

Alan Turing

Multiple Choice

Why were Turing's great achievements never recognised or acknowledged at the time?

• Turing was never fully recognised in Britain during his lifetime because much of his work was covered by the Official Secrets Act

• Because of his sexuality

• Because he named one of his machines "Bombe"

• Because his code breaking work was never really successful at the time

Alan Turing's Prosectution

Alan Turing was prosecuted in 1952 for homosexual acts. Homosexuality was literally illegal at that time. In spite of saving millions of lives and inventing the concept of a modern computer, Alan Turing was treated like a criminal just because of his sexuality. Alan Turing accepted hormone treatment with DES, a procedure commonly referred to as chemical castration, as an alternative to prison. It led to extreme depression and suicidal ideation in one of the greatest geniuses of the twentieth century.

Digital Technologies by Paul Evans

Alan Turing

Alan Turing's Death

Alan Turing died on 7 June 1954, 16 days before his 42nd birthday, from cyanide poisoning. An inquest determined his death as a suicide, but it has been noted that the known evidence is also consistent with accidental poisoning.

Digital Technologies by Paul Evans

Alan Turing

Multiple Choice

How old was Alan Turing when he died?

• 36

• 41

• 48

• 54

Opinion of Alan Turing, Now

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 [Turing] was treated". Queen Elizabeth II granted a posthumous pardon in 2013. The term "Alan Turing law" is now used informally to refer to a 2017 law in the United Kingdom that retroactively pardoned men cautioned or convicted under historical legislation that outlawed homosexual acts.

Digital Technologies by Paul Evans

Alan Turing

Multiple Choice

When did the British government officially apologise for its treatment of Alan Turing

• 1958

• 1984

• 2009

• 2019

Alan Turing's Legacy

Alan Turing has an extensive legacy with statues of him and many things named after him, including an annual award for computer science innovations. He appears on the current Bank of England £50 note, which was released on 23 June 2021, to coincide with his birthday. A 2019 BBC series, as voted by the audience, named him the greatest person of the 20th century.

Digital Technologies by Paul Evans

Alan Turing

Open Ended

Write a short paragraph summarising the importance of Alan Turing, in your own words.