Timeline of Alan Turing
Alan Turing's life and work, from his birth in 1912 through computability, wartime cryptanalysis, machine intelligence, and mathematical biology to posthumous recognition in 2021.
- Category
- Engineering & Technology
- Events
- 22 events 1912 – 2021
- Generated
- by gpt-6
1912: Turing is born in London
Alan Mathison Turing was born in London on June 23. His father worked in the Indian Civil Service, and Turing spent much of his childhood in England while his parents lived abroad.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Turing1926: Turing enters Sherborne School
Alan Turing entered Sherborne School, where his interest in mathematics and science developed despite a curriculum that emphasized classical studies. His friendship with fellow pupil Christopher Morcom encouraged his intellectual ambitions.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Turing1931: Turing begins studying at King's College
Alan Turing entered King's College, Cambridge, to study mathematics. The university brought him into contact with modern probability theory and mathematical logic, the foundations of his early research.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Turing1935: Turing wins a fellowship at King's
King's College, Cambridge, elected Alan Turing a fellow after his dissertation on the central limit theorem. He had independently proved a result already established by Jarl Waldemar Lindeberg, demonstrating his ability as a research mathematician.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Turing1936: Turing defines a universal computing machine
Alan Turing published "On Computable Numbers, with an Application to the Entscheidungsproblem." His abstract machines formalized mechanical calculation, and he used them to show that no algorithm could decide the validity of arbitrary first-order logical statements.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turing_machine1938: Turing earns his doctorate at Princeton
Alan Turing completed his doctorate under Alonzo Church at Princeton University. His dissertation, "Systems of Logic Based on Ordinals," examined the limits of formal reasoning and introduced oracle machines as a way to study computation relative to additional information.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ordinal_logic1939: Turing joins wartime work at Bletchley Park
Alan Turing joined the British codebreaking operation at Bletchley Park after war began. Building on earlier Polish breakthroughs against Enigma, he helped develop methods for attacking German military communications and led work on naval Enigma in Hut 8.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hut_81940: The first British bombe enters service
The first British bombe began operating at Bletchley Park in March. Alan Turing devised its logical approach, Gordon Welchman contributed the diagonal board used in improved machines, and Harold Keen led engineering that mechanized the search for Enigma settings.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombe1942: Turing coordinates cryptanalysis with American teams
Alan Turing traveled to the United States to work with American cryptanalysts on naval Enigma and secure communications. The visit strengthened cooperation on bombe development and exposed him to speech-encryption research.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Turing1943: Turing develops a portable speech scrambler
Alan Turing began work on Delilah, a portable secure-voice system, later collaborating with engineer Donald Bayley. The prototype demonstrated encrypted speech but was completed too late for wartime adoption.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Bayley1945: Turing joins the National Physical Laboratory
Alan Turing joined the National Physical Laboratory after the war to work on an electronic computer. The move shifted his attention from secret cryptanalysis to designing a machine that could store and execute many different programs.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automatic_Computing_Engine1946: Turing presents the Automatic Computing Engine design
Alan Turing presented his detailed proposal for the Automatic Computing Engine to the National Physical Laboratory. The design combined stored instructions with a fast electronic machine; a smaller Pilot version first ran in 1950, after he had left the laboratory.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automatic_Computing_Engine1948: Turing moves to Manchester
Alan Turing joined the University of Manchester, where a team had built an experimental stored-program computer. He worked on programming methods and software for the Manchester machines while pursuing research on intelligence and, later, biological pattern formation.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manchester_Mark_11950: Turing proposes the imitation game
Alan Turing published "Computing Machinery and Intelligence," replacing the vague question of whether machines could think with an imitation game conducted through written exchanges. He discussed objections to machine intelligence and proposed learning machines as a path toward it.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computing_Machinery_and_Intelligence1951: Turing is elected to the Royal Society
The Royal Society elected Alan Turing a fellow for his contributions to mathematics and computing. The recognition came while much of his wartime cryptanalytic work remained classified.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Turing1952: Turing is prosecuted for a same-sex relationship
Alan Turing was convicted of gross indecency under British laws criminalizing sex between men. He accepted probation with hormonal treatment instead of imprisonment, and his access to classified cryptographic work ended.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Turing1952: Turing explains how chemical patterns can form
Alan Turing published "The Chemical Basis of Morphogenesis." He showed mathematically how interacting substances that reacted and diffused could produce stable spatial patterns, connecting computation and mathematics with the development of biological form.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Chemical_Basis_of_Morphogenesis1954: Turing dies at forty-one
Alan Turing died at his home in Wilmslow on June 7. The inquest concluded that he had taken his own life; his death ended ongoing work on mathematical biology and the capabilities of computing machines.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Turing1966: The Turing Award honors contributions to computing
The Association for Computing Machinery established an annual award named for Alan Turing, with Alan Perlis as its first recipient. The award commemorated Turing through recognition of lasting technical contributions to computing.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turing_Award2013: Turing receives a posthumous royal pardon
Queen Elizabeth II granted Alan Turing a posthumous royal pardon for his 1952 conviction. The pardon followed a public campaign and a British government apology in 2009 for the treatment he had received.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Turing2017: The Alan Turing law extends pardons
Legislation informally known as the Alan Turing law extended posthumous pardons for certain abolished sexual offenses in England and Wales and linked pardons for living people to the statutory disregard process. The measure broadened recognition beyond Turing's individual case.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Turing_law2021: Turing appears on the fifty-pound note
The Bank of England issued a polymer fifty-pound note featuring Alan Turing on June 23, his birthday. Its design included references to his mathematical work, the Automatic Computing Engine, and the wartime bombe.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bank_of_England_%C2%A350_note