Celebrating Alan Turing’s Legacy
Alan Turing is a man of many things. He’s a genius, a hero, and a victim. To celebrate the 110 years since his birth, let’s look into the legacy of Alan Turing.
Contributions to the world
Turing’s name recently got plenty of praise of recognition. He’s better known for breaking the Enigma. The machine was used by Nazi Germany for military communication during the second world war. His breakthrough was believed to shorten the war by two years and save over 14 million people.
After the war, Turing then wrote the first programming manual. His programming system was used to create the Colossus. the first marketable electronic digital computer.
Turing is the father of artificial intelligence and modern cognitive science. He theorized that an “unorganized machine” can be trained and learn to become a “universal machine.” Turing then created the Turing test to check if an artificial computer is thinking.
His Turing Machines inspired many scientists and researchers. Which we now call today “computers.”
Victim of Prejudice
Turing was a homosexual at a time when it was illegal. He lost his job as a codebreaker and never received much recognition during his life for saving countless people. Two years after he was outed as a homosexual, at the young age of 41, Turing took his life. A tragic end for an honorable hero.
His story remained a government secret for more than 50 years.
In September of 2009, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown apologized for the inhumane hormone treatment of the war hero Turing. Then in 2013, Queen Elizabeth II honors Turing’s achievements by granting him a Posthumous Royal Pardon.
