The man and his machine

Alan Turing’s work laid the foundation for the development of computers and Artificial Intelligence.

During World War II, German submarines prowled the Atlantic Ocean attacking Allied ships. These underwater movements were hard to track, as the ‘Enigma’ code developed by the Germans appeared unbreakable. Alan Turing, a scientist working with Britain’s Government Code and Cypher School at Bletchley Park in London, led efforts to develop the ‘Bombe’, an awkward-looking huge machine that successfully deciphered the German code and enabled Allied ships to alter course without fear of detection. This also made possible the secret ‘Normandy’ landings that finally led to German defeat in 1945. Born on June 23, 1912, Alan was always asking himself how things happened. His early interest in science surprised and displeased his mother. She, like other parents, wanted him to study the classics: subjects like Latin, English, and history. But Alan did not do well in school. When he was 15, his maths and science grades in school were so disappointing that his teachers worried about letting him take the school-leaving certificate exams.