Alan Turing

Alan Turing was born to Julius and Ethel Turing in London, England. His father was a member of the Indian Civil Service, and his mother was the daughter of a railway engineer.

Turing begins his education at Sherborne School in Dorset, where he shows a strong aptitude for mathematics and science, despite the school's focus on classical education.

Turing is admitted to King's College, Cambridge, where he studies mathematics. He becomes a fellow of the college in 1935 based on his dissertation on the Central Limit Theorem.

Turing publishes his seminal paper 'On Computable Numbers, with an Application to the Entscheidungsproblem,' introducing the concept of the universal machine, later known as the Turing machine.

Turing completes his Ph.D. at Princeton University, where he further develops his ideas on computability and logic under the guidance of Alonzo Church.

At the outbreak of World War II, Turing joins the Government Code and Cypher School at Bletchley Park, where he plays a crucial role in cracking German encryption codes.

Turing leads the development of the Bombe machine, which significantly accelerates the process of decrypting Enigma-coded messages, contributing to Allied success in the war.

Turing is appointed as a Reader in the Mathematics Department at the University of Manchester, where he continues his work on computer design and artificial intelligence.

Turing publishes the influential paper 'Computing Machinery and Intelligence,' introducing the concept of the Turing Test to determine a machine's ability to exhibit intelligent behavior.

Turing is arrested and convicted of gross indecency for his relationship with another man. He accepts chemical castration as an alternative to imprisonment.

Alan Turing is found dead at his home in Wilmslow, England, from cyanide poisoning. His death is ruled a suicide, though some speculate it may have been accidental.