|
Alan
Turing was a mathematician who cracked codes during World War
Two. It is thought that Turing and his fellow code-breakers
shortened the war by several years.
He
worked for the British Government's Code and Cypher School before
World War Two broke out.
In
1939, he began working at Bletchley Park in Buckinghamshire,
where top secret work was carried out to crack Germany's military
codes.
Turing's
main job at Bletchley was to crack something called the 'Enigma'
code. The Enigma was a type of machine used by the German army to
send secret messages.
Turing
and another code-breaker called Gordon Welchman invented a
machine known as the Bombe. This device helped to significantly
reduce the work of the code-breakers.
During
his life, he worked almost entirely in secret and it wasn't until
long after his death that the legacy of his life and work came to
light. His war-time efforts had a huge influence on the
development of computer science and artificial intelligence.
Turing
died on 7 June 1954.
|