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Turing Program: Alan Turing Biography
The Turing Program is named in honor of Alan Turing, generally acknowledged as
the founder of computer science. He invented a computer precursor called the Turing
machine and was the chief scientific figure in Allied codebreaking during
World War II, responsible for cracking the U-Boat Enigma system, vital to the
Atlantic war.
Turing was put on trial for consensual gay sex and was sentenced
to take hormone pills. Turing was very open and honest as a gay
man and took a defiant attitude. His being gay
resulting in his being regarded as a security risk, and
this perhaps more than the hormone treatment was the background to his
suicide by eating a poisoned apple.
Additional Information
Andrew Hodges, author of the definitive Turing biography entitled
Alan Turing: The Enigma, has created an excellent web site with
many Turing resources at
http://www.turing.org.uk.
Many thanks to Andrew for his comments on the Turing section of this site.
Back to the Turing Program page.
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