Alan Turing
Alan Mathison Turing, known as Alan Turing, is a British mathematician and cryptologist. He is the author of the works that founded computers. During the Second World War, he played a major role in the cryptanalysis of Enigma, the machine used by the German armies. This secret was revealed to the public in 1970. After the war, he worked on computers.
Messy biography
Alan Turing showed the first signs of his genius during his childhood. He learned to read in three weeks and shows a great passion for numbers and puzzles. At school, this solitary and introverted child is not appreciated. His penchant for science did not make him more respected, in an environment that was more inclined towards classical subjects such as literature and art. But that didn't matter to Alan. He continues to excel in the subject. He solves extremely complicated problems for a 13-year-old.
In 1927, at Sherborne School, Alan befriended or fell in love with Christopher Morcom, who was also passionate about science and mathematics. In 1930, his friend Christopher died of tuberculosis.
At the end of 1938, Great Britain understood that Nazism was a threat. Alan Turing is one of the young minds called upon to decipher Enigma, the machine used by Germany to send secret messages. This project is completely secret.
In 1941, Alan became close to Joan Clarke, one of the few female cryptologists. Despite their platonic love that never went beyond friendship, he got engaged with Joan because Joan's parents want them to get married. Alan will later break his engagement by revealing that he is gay. Their relationship remained friendly for the rest of their lives.
Alan Turing decrypts Enigma, with a machine. He helped shorten the two-year war and saved 14 million lives. His inventions inspired people to invent machines. Today, these machines are called computers. He is the ancestor of computers.
Instead of thanking him, Britain condemned him for being gay in 1952. He was condemned to chemical castration and committed suicide two years later by biting into an apple filled with cyanide. A morbid reference to Snow White, a film he loved.
His machine, was named Christopher. ♡
