The Forgotten Hero
The arrival of computing technology – with its hidden mechanisms of logic and calculation – has enabled billions of people to connect seamlessly across the world. Yet it has also unleashed a torrent of new challenges: cyber-espionage, online fraud, the theft of identities and ideas, and information warfare that blurs the lines between truth and deception
Amid the chaos of World War II, when Britain faced the terrifying prospect of defeat, the government needed the brightest mathematical and scientific minds, formidable enough to outwit the coded secrets of Nazi Germany—intelligence that could spare countless lives on the frontlines. They found that mind in Alan Turing, the man who would come to be known as the father of computer science and the pioneer of algorithmic thinking.
Alan Mathison Turing was born in London in 1912, the second son of a British couple who had fallen in love while stationed in colonial India. As a boy, Turing formed a profound bond with an older classmate, Christopher Morcom, whose early death left Alan bereft. He spent three years writing letters to Morcom’s mother, trying to fathom his own grief. That search for understanding eventually drew him into the mysteries of consciousness itself and its relation to quantum mechanics.
Alan earned his PhD in mathematics from King’s College, Cambridge, and Princeton University in the United States before returning to teach at Cambridge. In 1936, he gained recognition for his groundbreaking academic work “On Computable Numbers, “which introduced the concept of algorithmic computation using what became known as the “Turing Machine”—a theoretical device capable of processing any mathematical equation or code. This work would prove invaluable to the development of AI and modern technology.
When World War II erupted across Europe, the Britishgovernment discovered that Axis forces were sending thousandsof encrypted messages back and forth through Enigma machines.These communications contained weather reports, battle situationupdates from various units, and even orders signed by Adolf Hitlerhimself. But accessing these codes required the correct ciphersets—and at that time, there were an astronomical 159 quintillionpossible combinations.
With Turing’s ingenuity, the team at Bletchley Park built theBombe, an electromechanical device that could decipher Enigma’scodes. Thanks to this breakthrough, Allied forces were able tointercept an estimated 84,000 Nazi communications each month.British command could anticipate German attacks, outmaneuverU-boats, and ultimately turn the tide of the war. When peacereturned, Turing joined the National Physical Laboratory, wherehe helped design one of the world’s first computers with storedmemory, which became operational at the University of Manchesterin 1949.
But fate took a cruel turn when he began a relationship witha young man named Arnold Murray, at a time when same-sexrelationships were illegal at the time in Britain. After Turing reporteda burglary at his home, police discovered evidence of the affair.Instead of investigating the theft, they arrested Turing himself.Convicted of “gross indecency,” he was given a cruel choice:one year imprisonment or chemical castration. He submitted tohormone injections that shriveled his body and broke his spirit.
Not long after, at age 41, Alan was found dead in his residencewith high levels of cyanide in his body. To this day, some believe itwas suicide—a final escape from shame and persecution. Otherssuspected that he was silenced for knowing too much.
For six decades, Britain branded him a criminal. Only in2013 did Queen Elizabeth II grant Turing a posthumous pardon.This was followed in 2017 by the passage of “Turing’s Law,”which decriminalized homosexuality and cleared the names of allBritish men, both living and deceased, who had been accused orprosecuted.
Today, Alan Turing is not only remembered by the military, thescience community, and the LGBTQ+ community, but also honoredas a national hero whose vision transcended war and prejudicealike. His face now appears on the £50 banknote, a quiet, enduringtribute to a life that changed the course of history.
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