Alan Turing - SpeedyLook encyclopedia

Childhood and youth

Alan was born with Paddington from the officer from career Julius Mathison Turing and from his wife Ethel Sarah Turing (born Stoney ). Starting from the one year age, the Alan young person is raised by Turing family friends. His/her mother then joined her father who was in function in the colony of the Indies. The latter will return to the the United Kingdom to the retirement of Julius in 1926. Very early, the Turing young person shows the signs of his genius. It for example is reported that it only learned how to read in three weeks. In the same way, it showed an early affinity for the figures and the enigmas.

His/her parents register it at the school St Michael' S, at the six years age. The director quickly recognizes in him a genius, like much of her consecutive professors in Marlborough College. With Marlborough, he for the first time is confronted with comrades older than him, he will become one their Turk heads. As from 13 years, he attends the school of Sherborne, where its first day of class was covered by the local press because of its sporting exploit. Indeed, a general strike had burst in the United Kingdom and Turing had gone to its distant school of almost 90 kilometers to bicycle, stopping the night in a motel.

Achieved sportsman, Alan Turing will even arrive 4th on arrival of the marathon of the Association of the athletes amateur (AAA Marathon, whose best runners are traditionally qualified for the Olympic Games) in 1949, in 2 hours 46 minutes and 3 seconds, a very good time at the time. A wounded leg, Turing will cease running seriously in 1950.

The leaning naturalness of Turing for sciences brings to him the respect neither of its professors, nor of the members of the administration of Sherborne, whose definition of the formation emphasized more the traditional disciplines (literature, arts, physical culture) that sciences. In spite of that, Turing continuous to make prowesses worthy of interest in the matters which he likes, solving of the very difficult problems for its age. For example, in 1928, Turing discover work of Albert Einstein, and includes/understands them whereas it is hardly 16 years old, going even until extrapolating the law of the movement of Einstein starting from a text in which it was not described explicitly.

Higher learning and work on the calculability

Because of its lack of enthusiasm to be worked as hard in the traditional matters as in the scientific matters, Turing fails several times its examinations, and ends up not being allowed as in the establishment which it had mentioned by defect, King' S College of the Université of Cambridge, whereas it had asked Trinity College in first choice. He studies 1931 with 1934 under the direction of Godfrey Harold Hardy, mathematician highly skilled then titular of the Chaire of Sadleirian then responsible for the research center and of studies in mathematics. He also follows the courses of Arthur Eddington and, the last year, of max Newman which introduce it with logic hilbertienne. In 1935, Turing is elected Fellow , equivalent of teacher-researcher, the King' S College .

In his monumental article “One Computable Numbers, with year Application to the Entscheidungsproblem” (1936), it answers a problem arising from Hilbert with knowing that of the decision ( Entscheidung ) in the axiomatic theories, which asks whether it is possible to find a method indeed calculable which affirms or not a proposal so yes is demonstrable, to show that is not possible it is necessary to characterize what is an indeed calculable process, it does it by introducing the machines of Turing. In the course of its reasoning, Turing shows that the problem of the stop of a Machine of Turing cannot be solved by algorithm: it is not possible to decide with a algorithm (i.e. with a machine of Turing) if a Machine of Turing given will stop. Although its proof was published after that of Alonzo Church, the work of Turing is much more accessible and intuitive. It is also completely new in its presentation of the concept of “Multipurpose machine (of Turing)”, with the idea that such a machine can achieve the tasks of any other machine. The article also presents the concept of definable numbers.

It passes most of 1937 and of 1938 to be worked with the Université of Princeton, under the direction of Alonzo Church. It obtains in May 1938 its Ph.D. of the Université of Princeton; its manuscript presents the concept of Hypercalcul, where the machines of Turing are supplemented by what it calls of the oracles, thus authorizing the study of problems which cannot be solved in an algorithmic way. The name of machine of Turing comes from Church, its reader, which off employs it for the first time in a report of the work of its pupil in the Journal Symbolic Logic .

Of return to Cambridge in 1939, it takes part in public courses of Ludwig Wittgenstein on the bases of mathematics. Both discuss in a vehement way and fall in dissension, Turing defending the formalism whereas Wittgenstein thinks that mathematics is over-estimated and that they do not make it possible to discover any absolute truth.

Decoding

During the Second world war, it is one of the principal contributors of the research led to Bletchley Park (secret center of the British service of the figure) aiming at breaking the secret codes of the machine Enigma used by the Nazi S. It joined in November 1942 the United States to try to break Japanese codes. It meets there Claude Shannon with which it discusses regularly. It turns over to England in 1943. It also designs a machine to code the voice. It also contributes to many other mathematical research, as those which will lead to break the code generated by the teleprinter of Fish (machine built by Lorenz and Siemens in partnership). Research on the code of Fish was used when designing Ordinateur Colossus . This machine was designed by max Newman and was built at the research laboratory of the Stations of Dollis Hill by a team directed by Thomas Flowers in 1943. Turing also designed versions improved of Polish the “Bomb” used to find keys of the messages of the machine Enigma. They are electromechanical devices associating several “Enigma machines” to eliminate quickly from the whole of potential keys on blocks of communication of Enigma.

The work of Turing on the deciphering of the Enigma code at the time of the operation Ultra was held secret until in the Années 1970; even his/her closer friends were not with the current of this research.

Work on the first computers; the test of Turing

Of 1945 with 1948 it works at the national laboratory of physics of Teddington to the the United Kingdom, on the design of ACE ( Automatic Computing Engine - Automatic Calculator). In 1949 he becomes delegate president of the laboratory of data processing of the university of Manchester, and works on the programming of the one of the very first genuine computers: Manchester Mark I. At the time of the conference marking the inauguration he proposes a method of proof of correction of programs based on assertions (see Logique of Hoare) which precedes the known method under the name of method of Floyd - Hoare. During this time, it continues to produce a fundamental deliberation, and in the article “Computing Machinery and Intelligence” (Mind, October 1950), Turing explores the problem of the Artificial intelligence and proposes a now known experiment under the name of Test of Turing in an attempt at definition of a standard making it possible to qualify a machine of “conscious”.

The program of Joe Weizenbaum, ELIZA, written in 1966 and which does not take more than three pages of language SNOBOL, will be the first to give the illusion during a few minutes to satisfy the Test of Turing.

In May 1952 Turing writes a programme of set of failures. Not having an enough powerful computer to carry out it, it simulates itself calculations of the machine, spending approximately half an hour to carry out each blow. A part was recorded, where the program lost against a colleague of Turing.

Persecution and dead

The Homosexualité of Turing was worth to him to be persecuted and broke its career. In 1952, his/her companion helps an accomplice to burglarize the house of Turing, which carries felt sorry for near the police force. The investigation of police force finishes by showing it “manifest indecency and of sexual perversion” (according to the British law on the Sodomie). It decides to assume its orientation and does not present defense, which makes it accuse. Follows a very mediatized lawsuit, where is given to him the choice between the imprisonment and a hormonal treatment of reduction of the libido. It chooses this last, one one year duration, with side effects like the enlargement of its centres. Whereas it had been devoted in 1951, while becoming member of Royal Society, as from 1952 it will be isolated more scientific great projects.

In 1954, it dies of Empoisonnement by eating an apple containing of the Cyanure. Many people think that this death is intentional and it was presented as such (it was unconditional tale of White-Snow). His/her mother, however drew aside the thesis of the Suicide to support that of the accident. She affirmed vigorously that the ingestion of the poison was accidental because of the propensity of his/her son to store chemicals of laboratory without any precaution.

Among the many assumptions circulating on the origin of the logo of Apple, the homage to Turing is most serious for the biographers of the mathematician.

Sources

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