Alan
Mathison Turing OBE FRS (June 1912 – 7 June 1954) was a pioneering
English computer scientist, mathematician, logician, cryptanalyst and
theoretical biologist. He 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 of a general purpose computer. Turing is widely considered to be the father of theoretical computer science and artificial intelligence.
During the Second World War, Turing worked for the Government Code and
Cypher School (GC&CS) at Bletchley Park, Britain's codebreaking center. For a time he led Hut 8, the section responsible for German
naval cryptanalysis. He devised a number of techniques for breaking
German ciphers, including improvements to the pre-war Polish bombe
method and an electromechanical machine that could find settings for the
Enigma machine. Turing played a pivotal role in cracking intercepted
coded messages that enabled the Allies to defeat the Nazis in many
crucial engagements, including the Battle of the Atlantic; it has been
estimated that this work shortened the war in Europe by as many as two
to four years.
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