Tuesday, October 28, 2014

The Code breaker.

Alan Turing Receives pardon probe into death urged

Alan Turing, was a British mathematician, logician, cryptanalyst, philosopher, pioneering computer scientist, mathematical biologist, and marathon runner. He was highly influential in the development of computer science, providing a formalisation of the concepts of "algorithm" and "computation" with the Turing machine.

He is widely considered to be the father of theoretical computer science and artificial intelligence.  He devised a number of techniques for breaking German ciphers, including Polish bombe method, an electromechanical machine that could find settings for the Enigma machine.

Winston Churchill said that Turing made the single biggest contribution to Allied victory in the war against Nazi Germany. Turing's pivotal role in cracking intercepted coded messages enabled the Allies to defeat the Nazis in several crucial battles. It has been estimated that Turing's work shortened the war in Europe by as many as two to four years.

Turing has received a royal pardon, almost 60 years subsequent to his suicide. Turing’s homosexuality culminated in the renowned mathematician and computer scientist being subject to criminal prosecution in the early 1950s  a time when homosexual activities were criminalized in the U.K.

Just a thought.

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