Alan Mathison Turing was born June 23, 1912 in Maida Vale, London, England, to Julius Mathison Turing and Ethel Sara Stoney-Turing. He had one older brother, John.
As a child and teen, he attended Sherborne School. His school reports said he was very antisocial, and had a difficult time fitting in with the other children. Most teachers complained about his handwriting.His headmaster said he was 'the sort of boy who was bound to be a problem for any school or community'. Most people saw him more as a problem than a genuine person. However, when he was sixteen, he met Christopher Morcom. They soon became best friends. They both enjoyed science. After school, Christopher won a scholarship to Trinity's College. Alan did not. In 1930, Christopher sadly passed away from tuberculosis. Alan then received a scholarship to King's College Cambridge in 1931.
After some time at Princeton and Cambridge, he was called to Bletchley in 1939. It was believed to be a radio factory, when in actuality, it was a place for code breakers, who were trying to break the Nazi code, Enigma. In 1941, he became the head of The Naval Enigma Team.
Alan studied at a Code and Cypher school, and was very interested in different codes. He always had been very fond of puzzles, so to him, Enigma was basically a nearly, impossible puzzle.
Alan came up with an idea for a machine. It would sort out the Enigma codes, and decide which words were used. He was able to receive the funds, and built his machine. It was known as "The Turing Machine", or "The Bombe".
In 1941 Enigma was broken. Military troops were sent out against the Germans. The war ended in 1945. Alan was awarded a O.B.E. the same year.
In 1946, Alan sent a proposal for the "Automatic Computing Engine", which was submitted in March of that year.
Unfortunately, Alan was prosecuted for homosexual acts in 1952. He was given the choice of either two years in prison, or two years of chemical castration. He chose chemical castration so he could stay with his work.
On June 7, 1954, Alan Turing was found dead in his house in Wilmslow, U.K. The cause of death was suicide by cyanide poisoning.
Over 49,000 homosexual men suffered or died in The United Kingdom. Alan was one of them. In 2013, Queen Elizabeth put out "The Turing Law", which pardoned every homosexual man who was prosecuted.
Alan Turing was a brilliant mathematician/computer scientist, a gay icon, and a war hero.
