1912-1954 Alan Turing, Computer Scientist

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Alan Turing – Computer Scientist, Mathematician, & Cryptanalyst – England

(Photo: reddit "History in Color" project,  

Text: Sean Dunnington, "LGBTQ History of Geography & Computers” Project)

Generally regarded as the “father” of theoretical computing science and artificial intelligence, Alan Turing is the name that most often comes to mind when people think about an influential gay computer science pioneer. His life story become even more well known thanks to the acclaimed 2014 film The Imitation Game. A graduate of Cambridge and Princeton, Turing worked as a cryptanalyst during World War II, playing a key role in the development of a technique to decipher encrypted German messages, which helped the Allied forces defeat the Nazis. After the war he worked at the National Physical Library in London, where he contributed to the Automatic Computing Engine (ACE) and developed the blueprint for stored-program computers. In his later work at the University of Manchester he developed the idea of artificial computer intelligence, including proposing an experiment to test AI, which is still referred to today as the “Turing Test.” Turing’s life had a tragic ending: arrested and prosecuted for “gross indecency” when authorities discovered he was gay, he committed suicide by ingesting cyanide and died at the age of 41. Turing was named by Time magazine as one of the 100 most important people of the 20th century.

(xHistory  xLGBTQIA   xEngland xMathematics )