Alan Turing would have turned 100 this week, an event that would have, no doubt, been greeted with all manner of pomp -- the centennial of a man whose mid-century concepts would set the stage for modern computing. Turing, of course, never made it that far, found dead at age 41 from cyanide poisoning, possibly self-inflicted. His story is that of a brilliant mind cut down in its prime for sad and ultimately baffling reasons, a man who accomplished so much in a short time and almost certainly would have had far more to give, if not for a society that couldn't accept him for who he was.
The London-born computing pioneer's name is probably most immediately recognized in the form of the Turing Machine, the "automatic machine" he discussed in a 1936 paper and formally extrapolated over the years. The concept would help lay the foundation for future computer science, arguing that a simple machine, given enough tape (or, perhaps more appropriately in the modern sense, storage) could be used to solve complex equations. All that was needed as Turing laid it out, was a writing method, a way of manipulating what's written and a really long ream to write on. In order to increase the complexity, only the storage, not the machine, needs upgrading.
Continue reading Remembering Alan Turing at 100
Remembering Alan Turing at 100 originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 22 Jun 2012 14:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | |
Email this |
Comments
Here's a new version of Jingle Bells you won't hear played in malls, and it's courtesy of one of the oldest computers in history. Turing archive director Jack Copeland and composer Jason Long have recreated Ferranti Mark 1's Christmas performance for...
A huge batch of letters penned by visionary British cryptographer Alan Turning has been found at the University of Manchester. Professor Jim Miles was tidying a storeroom when he discovered the correspondence in an old filing cabinet. At first he ass...
Bletchley Park will once again serve as a cryptographic hub in the UK. Plans are afoot to create a new "National College of Cyber Security" in G-Block, a building which is currently in a state of disrepair. It's scheduled to open in 2018 and will ser...
Under new legislation, thousands of gay and bisexual men will receive posthumous pardons from the UK government. Dubbed the "Alan Turing Law," an amendment to the Policing and Crime Bill will rectify old convictions for consensual same-sex relationsh...
Alan Turing is known for a few small achievements, like helping end World War II, laying the groundwork for modern computers and developing the "Turing test" for machine intelligence. You may not be aware, however, that he paved the way for synthesiz...
