Alan Mathison Turing is a world-famous brilliant scientist, a code cracker, an informatics pioneer, a man with an amazing fate who has had a significant impact on the development of computer technology.
Alan Turing: a brief biography
Alan Mathison Turing was born in LondonJune 23, 1912. His father, Julius Turing, was a colonial civil servant in India. There he met and married Alan’s mother, Ethel Sarah. Parents lived in India permanently, and the children (Alan and John, his elder brother) studied in private homes in England, where they received strict upbringing.
Свои способности к точным наукам Алан проявил somehow during a picnic. To win his father’s approval, the boy managed to find wild honey by simple conclusions. For this, he traced the lines along which the bees flew, and the direction of their flights. Then, mentally extending these lines, I found their intersection point, where I found a hollow with honey.
Uncommon abilities in the exact sciences of Alanshowed up while studying at the prestigious Sherborbskoy school. In 1931, as a mathematical fellow, the young man continued his studies at the Royal College of Cambridge University. Upon graduation, he defended his thesis on the central limit probability theorem, which he rediscovered without realizing the existence of a similar previous work. In school, Alan was in the Scientific Society of the college, his thesis was awarded a special award. This gave the young man the opportunity to get a good scholarship and to continue self-realization in the field of exact sciences.
Turing Machine
In 1935, the scientist Alan Turing first appliedhis abilities in the field of mathematical logic and began to conduct research that showed significant results in a year. He introduced the concept of a computable function that can be implemented on a so-called Turing machine. The project of this device had all the basic properties of modern models (step-by-step method of action, memory, program management) and was the prototype of digital computers invented a dozen years later. In 1936, mathematician Alan Turing moved to America and got a job as curator at Princeton University, in 1938 he received his Ph.D. and returned to Cambridge, refusing the offer of mathematician John von Neumann to stay in this educational institution as an assistant.
British operation "Ultra"
In the same period, Britain announced the start of the operation."Ultra", the purpose of which was to listen to the conversations of German pilots and their interpretation. This issue was handled by the London-based department of the Government School of Codes and Ciphers (the British National Intelligence's General Cipher Unit), which, due to the threat of a fascist attack, was urgently taken to Bletchley Park, located in the center of England.
Today it houses the Museum of Encoders andcomputing technology. Intelligence data intercepted by receiving stations daily arrived in this secret place; The number of coded messages was measured in thousands of units. For each incoming text were recorded: radio frequency, date, time of interception and preamble. The latter contained the network identifier, the call sign of the receiving station and the sender, the time of sending messages.
Winston Churchill - British Prime Minister- He called Bletchi Park his chicken that lays the golden eggs. The project was led by Alistair Deniston, a military intelligence veteran. He recruited not a staff intelligence officer to the state of cryptanalyst, but specialists of the widest profile: mathematicians, linguists, chess players, Egyptologists, and crossword puzzle champions. A talented mathematician Alan Turing also got into such a diverse company.
Turing against Enigma
The Turing department was assigned a specific task:working with encrypted texts created by the Enigma device, a machine patented in Holland in 1917 and originally intended to protect banking transactions. It is these models that the Wehrmacht actively used to transmit radio messages in operations conducted by the navy and aircraft. The codes of "Enigma" to the beginning of the Second World War were the strongest on the planet. It was even thought that hacking them was almost impossible.
To understand the encoded text, requiredacquire the same machine, know its initial settings, lock the letters in the communication panel in a certain way, and start all this in the opposite direction. It was worth bearing in mind that the coding principles and keys changed once a day. Wehrmacht cipher operators tried to make the cryptoanalysis itself complicated by the transmission procedures: the length of the messages did not exceed 250 characters, and they were transmitted in groups of 3-5 letters.
The hard work of cryptographers underTuring's leadership was crowned with success: a device was created that could decode the Enigma signals. In addition to all sorts of mathematical tricks, the same stereotypical phrases used by the Germans, as well as any repetitive texts, were used as clues. If the tips were not enough, then the enemy provoked them. For example, defiantly mined a certain part of the sea, and then listened to the statements of the Germans on this issue.
Alan Turing's Success
As a result of hard work in 1940 wasAlan Turing's cryptanalytic machine “Bomb” was created, which is a huge cabinet (weight is one ton, the front panel is 2 x 3 meters, 36 groups of rotors on it). The use of this device required special skills and was directly dependent on the qualifications of the personnel serving it. Over time, more than two hundred such machines were installed in Bletchley Park, which made it possible to decipher about 2-3 thousand messages per day.
Turing Alan was delighted with his work andresults achieved. He was only annoyed by the local authorities and budget cuts. Fortunately, after a series of angry service notes, the project took control of Winston Churchill, increasing its funding. The Enigma and other German encryption machines were hacked, the allies were able to keep abreast of the uninterrupted flow of the most valuable intelligence.
More than a year the Germans did not know about the existence of the “Bomb”, but after finding information leaks, they made enormous efforts to maximize the complexity of the ciphers.
However, this did not frighten Turing: he easily coped with the new problem, and within a month and a half the British had access to enemy information.
The absolute reliability of the cipher during the warcaused no doubt among the Germans, who until the very end were looking for the causes of the leakage of valuable information anywhere, just not in the Enigma. The disclosure of the Enigma code dramatically changed the course of the Second World War. Valuable information helped not only to secure the British Isles, but also to make appropriate preparations for large-scale operations on the continent, planned by the German side. The success of the British coders became an important contribution to the victory over Nazism, and directly in 1946 Turing Alan received the Order of the British Empire.
Freaks of computer genius
Contemporaries described Turing as a slightly eccentric person, not very charming, rather bilious and infinitely hardworking.
- Being an allergic, Turing Alan antihistaminedrugs preferred gas mask. In it, he traveled to offices during the flowering period. Perhaps this oddity was due to the reluctance to fall under the influence of side effects of the drug, namely, drowsiness.
- Another feature was a mathematician inrelation to his bike, which at certain intervals flew the chain. Turing Alan, not wanting to repair it, counted the pedal turnovers, got off the bike at the right moment and straightened the chain with his hands.
- A talented scientist strapped his battery to the battery in Bletchley Park to keep it from being stolen.
- Living in Cambridge, Alan never set the clock in accordance with the signals of the exact time, he calculated it mentally, fixing the location of a certain star.
- One day, Alan, learning about the fall of the English foot, melted his coins and buried the silver bar somewhere in the park, after which he completely forgot the place of the cache.
- Turing was a good athlete.Feeling the need for charging, he ran a long distance, determining for himself that he had succeeded in this sport. Then, in record time, he won the 3- and 10-mile distance of his club, and in 1947 in the marathon race he took the fifth place.
The oddities of Alan Turing, whose merit forBritain is simply invaluable, few have caused bewilderment. Many colleagues recall the excitement and enthusiasm with which the computer science genius took on any idea that interested him. Turing was looked upon with great respect, as it stood out for its originality of thinking and its own intellect. A talented mathematician, having all the makings of a qualified teacher, was able to solve and explain any available, even the most unusual task.
Alan Turing: a contribution to computer science
In 1945, Alan refused to work as a lecturer inCambridge University and on the recommendation of M. Newman moved to the National Physical Laboratory, where at that time the group was developing on the design and creation of ACE - a computer. During 3 years (from 1945 to 1948) - the period of existence of the group - Turing made the first sketches and made several important proposals for its design.
The ACE report the scientist referred to the executiveNFL committee March 19, 1946. The accompanying note attached to it stated that the work was based on the EDVAG project. However, the project had a large number of valuable ideas that belonged directly to English mathematics.
Software for the first computeralso written by Alan Turing. Informatics without the hard work of this talented scientist, perhaps, would not have reached such a level as it is today. Then the first chess program was written.
В сентябре 1948 года Алан Тьюринг, биография whose life was associated with mathematics, was transferred to work at the University of Manchester. Nominally, he took the position of deputy director of the laboratory of computers, but in reality was listed in the mathematical department of M. Newman and was responsible for programming.
Wicked joke
English mathematician, who continued after the warcooperation with intelligence, was brought to a new task: deciphering Soviet codes. At this moment, fate played a trick on Turing. Once his house was robbed. The note left by the thief was a warning about the extreme undesirability of contacting the police, but outraged Alan Turing immediately called the station. During the investigation it turned out that the robber was one of the friends of Alan's lover. In the process of testifying, Turing had to admit to his non-traditional orientation that in those years in England it was a criminal offense.
The loud trial of a famous scientist lasted long enough. He was offered either a two-year prison sentence, or hormone therapy, eliminating sexual attraction.
Alan Turing (photo of recent years above) chosethe second. As a result of treatment with the most powerful drugs that lasted for a year, Turing developed impotence, as well as gynecomastia (breast augmentation). Criminally prosecuted Alan was suspended from secret work. In addition, the British had fears that homosexuals could be recruited by Soviet spies. The scientist was not accused of espionage, but was forbidden to discuss his work in Bletchley Park.
Alan Turing's Apple
The story of Alan Turing is sad to the core:mathematical genius was dismissed from service and forbidden to teach. His reputation was completely ruined. At 41, a young man was thrown overboard to the usual rhythm of life, left without a beloved job, with a broken psyche and ruined health. In 1954, Alan Turing, whose biography still worries the minds of many people, was found dead in his own house, and a bitten apple lay on a bedside table beside the bed. As it turned out later, it was stuffed with cyanide. So Alan Turing recreated the scene from his beloved fairy tale "Snow White" in 1937. According to some information, this is why the fruit has become the emblem of the world-famous computer company Apple. In addition, the apple is still the biblical symbol of the knowledge of sin.
The official version of the death of a talented mathematician- suicide. Alan's mother believed that the poisoning happened by chance, because Alan has always been careless with chemicals. There is a version that Turing deliberately chose this way of escape from life in order to enable the mother not to believe in suicide.
Rehabilitation English Mathematics
Великий математик был реабилитирован посмертно.In 2009, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown publicly apologized for the persecution that the computer science genius underwent. In 2013, Turing was officially pardoned for the obscenity charges of Elizabeth II - Queen of Great Britain.
Alan Turing's work was not onlythe development of information technologies: at the end of his life, the scientist devoted himself to questions of biology, namely, he began to develop a chemical theory of morphogenesis, which gave full scope for combining the abilities of exact mathematician and a gifted, full of original ideas of the philosopher. The first sketches of this theory are described in a preliminary report of 1952 and a report that appeared after the death of a scientist.
The most prestigious award in the field of computer scienceis the "Turing Award". It is awarded annually by the Computer Association. Sponsored by this reward, which currently amounts to $ 250,000 by Google and Intel. The first such important award in 1966 was awarded to Alan Perlis for creating compilers.
