Alan Turing
Broke Enigma and defined the computer; convicted for his sexuality, pardoned six decades later.
- Born
- 1912 · London, England
- Roots
- English
- Family
- Middle class
- His father served in the Indian Civil Service; the children were left with a retired army couple in England and raised largely apart from their parents.
- Education
- Sherborne School → King's College, Cambridge → Princeton (PhD)
- Started with
- A children's science book
- Natural Wonders Every Child Should Know, read at about ten — he later credited it with opening science to him.
- Affiliations & societies
- None documented.
- Information only — claims like these are often unverifiable and may be wrong.
The pathway
- 1926 · age 1360 miles by bicycle
Rides two days through the General Strike to reach his first day at Sherborne.
- 1930 · age 17Christopher Morcom dies
The loss of his closest friend turns his thinking toward minds and machines.
- 1936 · age 23On Computable Numbers
The universal machine — a mathematical blueprint for every computer since.
- 1939 · age 27Bletchley Park
Leads Hut 8; his bombe machines break naval Enigma, work kept secret for decades.
- 1950 · age 37The Turing test
"Computing Machinery and Intelligence" asks whether machines can think.
- 1952 · age 39Convicted
Found guilty of gross indecency for a relationship with a man; accepts hormone treatment over prison and loses his security clearance.
- 1954 · age 41Dies of cyanide poisoning
The inquest rules suicide. A prime-ministerial apology comes in 2009, a royal pardon in 2013, and his face on the £50 note in 2021.
Sources
Compiled from these references and contemporaneous press reporting. Figures are approximate; verify before relying on them.