Alan Turing: A Short Biography

The Father of Artificial Intelligence and the Engima Machine

Jul 3, 2008

Alan Turing, a mathematical genius, cracked the Enigma code. Before commiting suicide he wrote about A.I, computing & philosophy and is now known as 'the father of A.I.'

Alan Turing's Childhood

Alan Mathison Turing was born on the 23rd of June 1912 to Julius and Ethel Turing. (Hodges, 1985, p.5) Alan and his older brother were cared for by a retired couple while their parents were in India; it was during this time that Alan taught himself to read and recognise numbers: ‘(Alan) had an infuriating habit of stopping at every lamp post to identify its serial number.’ (Hodges, 1985, p.7)

Turing’s best subjects at school were Mathematics and Science; to the dismay of his teachers, he showed little or no interest in other subjects and was placed in the bottom sets for both English and Latin. (Hodges, 1985, p.30) While at school, Alan showed his teacher some advanced Mathematics work he had done and was declared to be a genius. However, the same teacher complained that ‘he spends a great deal of time apparently in investigations in advanced Mathematics to the neglect of elementary work.’ (Hodges, 1985, p.26) This school report accurately reflects the way in which Turing would view his work in his adult life.

Turing's Career

Turing graduated from Cambridge in 1934 before attending Kings where he wrote On Computable Numbers, which was published in 1937 (Sabol, 2006, ‘History.’) This concerned itself with the idea of a universal machine, now known as the Turing machine. Such a machine would be able to ‘carry out any systematic process man could devise.’ (Sabol, 2006, ‘History.’) These machines paved the way for the digital computer as well as broadening ideas about what machines could achieve.

The Enigma Machine

In 1938, the British government and intelligence agencies were faced with the German Enigma Machine; a code believed to be unbreakable, which was used by the Germans to pass on instructions and direct its forces. (Hodges, 1985, p.148) Turing was recruited to assist the government and remained a key figure, developing the ‘bombe’ machine, which successfully decoded encrypted German messages. (Sabol, 2006, ‘History.’)

Following this breakthrough, Turing took the role of consultant and involved himself in other projects including working on speech secrecy, designing the ACE computer, then the software for Mark I at Manchester University. (Sabol, 2006, ‘History.’) In 1950, Turing published Computing Machinery and Intelligence, perhaps his most famous work, which outlined his views on artificial intelligence and its future.

The Poison Apple: Turing's Suicide

On the 7th of June 1954 (Newman, 1955, p.253) aged 41, Alan Turing committed suicide by eating an apple which he had injected with cyanide. (Sabol, 2006, ‘History.’) Turing’s death was ruled a suicide; although some believed it may have been an assassination, considering the role Turing had played throughout the war.

Turing had always been open with regards to his sexuality; in 1952 he was charged with gross indecency after conceding that he had been in a homosexual relationship. (Sabol, 2006, ‘Alan Turing.’) In the time leading up to his suicide he had agreed to hormone therapy in order to avoid prison; it is believed that this is what drove him to suicide. (Sabol, 2006, ‘Alan Turing.’)

In his short life, Turing made many highly significant breakthroughs in his field. It has even been argued that without him World War II might have been lost; the German Enigma code may not have been broken. It is impossible to say how much more Turing could have achieved had he not killed himself; he remains one of the most intelligent and important figures in twentieth century history.

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