Ten fun facts about Alan Turing
Fact 1
He was highly influential in the development of computer science, giving a formalization of the concepts of "algorithm" and "computation" with the Turing machine, which can be considered a model of a general purpose computer.
Fact 2
Turing is widely considered to be the father of theoretical computer science and artificial intelligence.
Fact 3
During World War II, Turing worked for the Government Code and Cypher School (GC&CS) at Bletchley Park, Britain's codebreaking center.
Fact 4
In 1945, Turing was awarded the OBE by King George VI for his wartime services, but his work remained secret for many years.
Fact 5
In 1948, he was appointed Reader in the Mathematics Department at the University of Manchester.
Fact 6
Since 1966, the Turing Award has been given annually by the Association for Computing Machinery for technical or theoretical contributions to the computing community. It is widely considered to be the computing world's highest honor, equivalent to the Nobel Prize.
Fact 7
Breaking the Code is a 1986 play by Hugh Whitemore about Alan Turing.
Fact 8
The Princeton Alumni Weekly named Turing the second most significant alumnus in the history of Princeton University, second only to President James Madison.
Fact 9
In 1999, Time Magazine named Turing as one of the 100 Most Important People of the 20th century.
Fact 10
In 2002, Turing was ranked twenty-first on the BBC nationwide poll of the 100 Greatest Britons.
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