{"id":7700,"date":"2019-07-15T23:48:17","date_gmt":"2019-07-16T06:48:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/?p=7700"},"modified":"2019-07-16T04:44:54","modified_gmt":"2019-07-16T11:44:54","slug":"post3-54","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/?p=7700","title":{"rendered":"&#8220;The father of modern computing: Alan Turing&#8217;s legacy&#8221;, The Guardian"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Nicola Davis, London, 15 July 2019<\/p>\n<p><em>Personal life and substantial works of face of new \u00a350 note have only recently been properly appreciated<\/em><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"drop-cap\"><span class=\"drop-cap__inner\">A<\/span><\/span>lan Turing, the <a class=\"u-underline\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/business\/2019\/jul\/15\/alan-turing-to-feature-on-new-50-note\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">face of the new \u00a350 note<\/a>, is recognised as a key figure in <a class=\"u-underline\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/2019\/apr\/07\/unsung-d-day-hero-bletchley-turing\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">Britain\u2019s codebreaking efforts at Bletchley <\/a><a class=\"u-underline\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/2019\/apr\/07\/unsung-d-day-hero-bletchley-turing\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">Park<\/a> during the second world war, a mathematical genius and even the father of modern computing and artificial intelligence.<\/p>\n<p>The note, expected to enter circulation by the end of 2021, will carry a photo of Turing and feature details relating to his work, including technical drawings for the British Bombe, a device developed by Turing and used during the war to help break German messages encoded using Enigma machines.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"element element-rich-link element--thumbnail element-rich-link--upgraded\" data-component=\"rich-link\" data-link-name=\"rich-link-2 | 1\">\n<div class=\"rich-link tone-news--item rich-link--pillar-news\"><\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<p>It will also reference one of Turing\u2019s academic papers, On computable numbers with an application to the Entscheidungsproblem, in which he essentially envisaged computing machines and showed there are unsolvable problems \u2013 propositions that can not be said to be provable or not based only on rules and statements of fact.<\/p>\n<p>Turing\u2019s words will appear in the form of a quote given to the Times in 1949: \u201cThis is only a foretaste of what is to come, and only the shadow of what is going to be.\u201d<\/p>\n<div id=\"dfp-ad--inline1\" class=\"js-ad-slot ad-slot ad-slot--inline ad-slot--inline1 ad-slot--rendered\" data-link-name=\"ad slot inline1\" data-name=\"inline1\" data-mobile=\"1,1|2,2|300,197|300,250|300,274|fluid\" data-phablet=\"1,1|2,2|300,197|300,250|300,274|620,350|fluid\" data-desktop=\"1,1|2,2|300,250|300,274|620,1|620,350|fluid\" data-google-query-id=\"CPHouqqsueMCFQuEYgodi_gMyQ\">\n<div class=\"ad-slot__label\"><\/div>\n<p>But Turing\u2019s achievements go beyond what will appear on the note: his work spanned many disciplines including biology and chemistry. Indeed, later in his career Turing wrote a seminal paper explaining how patterns such as spots and stripes can appear during chemical reactions.<\/p>\n<p>While the importance of Turing\u2019s work and the foundations he laid have become increasingly apparent with time, so too have his personal struggles. These have been highlighted in a biography and a number of plays in the 1980s, as well as the 2014 film The Imitation Game, in which <a class=\"u-underline\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/film\/2014\/nov\/16\/the-imitation-game-review-engrossing-thriller-benedict-cumberbatch\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">Turing was played by Benedict Cumberbatch<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Born in London in 1912, Turing joined Sherborne school at 13. His <a class=\"u-underline\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/science\/2017\/oct\/23\/alan-turing-school-report-fitzwilliam-museum-cambridge\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">reports<\/a>suggest his abilities were mixed, but hint at his imagination and originality. \u201cHe must remember that Cambridge will want sound knowledge rather than vague ideas,\u201d his physics teacher wrote.<\/p>\n<p>Turing joined King\u2019s College, Cambridge, in 1931 and became a fellow there in 1935. What followed were a number of seminal ideas, including his vision of a universal computing machine, which can be fed an algorithm for a particular computation and then apply it. It was an idea that was to be pivotal in the development of the computers we use today.<\/p>\n<p>After a stint at Princeton University in America, Turing returned to the UK, where he worked in code-breaking. With the outbreak of war, he joined Bletchley Park.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"img-2\" class=\"element element-image img--landscape fig--narrow-caption fig--has-shares \" data-component=\"image\" data-media-id=\"b554f72ea336bf5633fc4ce24f004d92d0bff989\">\n<div class=\"u-responsive-ratio\"><picture><source srcset=\"https:\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/media\/b554f72ea336bf5633fc4ce24f004d92d0bff989\/0_0_5085_4080\/master\/5085.jpg?width=620&amp;quality=45&amp;auto=format&amp;fit=max&amp;dpr=2&amp;s=7fcf1812b62ad074ed530a3d972a75b5 1240w\" media=\"(min-width: 660px) and (-webkit-min-device-pixel-ratio: 1.25), (min-width: 660px) and (min-resolution: 120dpi)\" sizes=\"620px\" \/><source srcset=\"https:\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/media\/b554f72ea336bf5633fc4ce24f004d92d0bff989\/0_0_5085_4080\/master\/5085.jpg?width=620&amp;quality=85&amp;auto=format&amp;fit=max&amp;s=5a84e77214aef4f6e98a1ee1a59c86b8 620w\" media=\"(min-width: 660px)\" sizes=\"620px\" \/><source srcset=\"https:\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/media\/b554f72ea336bf5633fc4ce24f004d92d0bff989\/0_0_5085_4080\/master\/5085.jpg?width=605&amp;quality=45&amp;auto=format&amp;fit=max&amp;dpr=2&amp;s=f097fa9b1495e8974f0589869ba8a8bf 1210w\" media=\"(min-width: 480px) and (-webkit-min-device-pixel-ratio: 1.25), (min-width: 480px) and (min-resolution: 120dpi)\" sizes=\"605px\" \/><source srcset=\"https:\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/media\/b554f72ea336bf5633fc4ce24f004d92d0bff989\/0_0_5085_4080\/master\/5085.jpg?width=605&amp;quality=85&amp;auto=format&amp;fit=max&amp;s=71a3fe466ab1e564054813113deba92e 605w\" media=\"(min-width: 480px)\" sizes=\"605px\" \/><source srcset=\"https:\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/media\/b554f72ea336bf5633fc4ce24f004d92d0bff989\/0_0_5085_4080\/master\/5085.jpg?width=445&amp;quality=45&amp;auto=format&amp;fit=max&amp;dpr=2&amp;s=71aadc8a631b81a10db918d9c4a954af 890w\" media=\"(min-width: 0px) and (-webkit-min-device-pixel-ratio: 1.25), (min-width: 0px) and (min-resolution: 120dpi)\" sizes=\"445px\" \/><source srcset=\"https:\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/media\/b554f72ea336bf5633fc4ce24f004d92d0bff989\/0_0_5085_4080\/master\/5085.jpg?width=445&amp;quality=85&amp;auto=format&amp;fit=max&amp;s=a222d1e23af85b18ebb50d2cb522585e 445w\" media=\"(min-width: 0px)\" sizes=\"445px\" \/><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"gu-image\" src=\"https:\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/media\/b554f72ea336bf5633fc4ce24f004d92d0bff989\/0_0_5085_4080\/master\/5085.jpg?width=300&amp;quality=85&amp;auto=format&amp;fit=max&amp;s=edcf5d17374af39f3d4874a9cc213c2e\" alt=\"Mock-up of new \u00a350 note featuring Alan Turing\" \/><\/picture><\/div>\n<div class=\"block-share block-share--article hide-on-mobile \" data-link-name=\"block share\"><\/div><figcaption class=\"caption caption--img caption caption--img\">A Bank of England mock-up of the new \u00a350 note featuring Turing and a technical drawing of one of his devices. Photograph: Bank of England<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>As a gay man in the early 1950s, at a <a class=\"u-underline\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/2016\/apr\/16\/gchq-chief-apologises-for-horrifying-treatment-of-alan-turing\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">time when homosexual acts were illegal<\/a>, Turing faced a demeaning choice when a burglary at his home brought Turing\u2019s relationship with a man to police attention.<\/p>\n<p>He was found guilty of gross indecency and had to decide between going to prison or undergoing chemical castration. He chose the latter, a horrifying treatment that involved hormonal injections.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"element element-rich-link element--thumbnail element-rich-link--upgraded\" data-component=\"rich-link\" data-link-name=\"rich-link-2 | 2\">\n<div class=\"rich-link tone-news--item rich-link--pillar-news\">\n<div class=\"rich-link__container\">\n<div class=\"rich-link__image-container u-responsive-ratio\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/static\/sys-images\/Guardian\/Pix\/pictures\/2014\/6\/9\/1402307201704\/fed813cd-ab54-4b31-9a61-272b5d5f9be5-2060x1236.jpeg?width=460&amp;quality=85&amp;auto=format&amp;fit=max&amp;s=470bc18440efdf1780302b07980dfab7\" \/><\/div>\n<div class=\"rich-link__header\">\n<h2 class=\"rich-link__title\"><a class=\"rich-link__link\">What is the Turing test? And are we all doomed now?<\/a><\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"rich-link__read-more\">\n<div class=\"rich-link__read-more-text\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/technology\/2014\/jun\/09\/what-is-the-alan-turing-test\">Read more<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<p>Turing died in June 1954, aged 41, at his home in Wilmslow, near Manchester, in an apparent suicide. On Christmas Eve in 2013, the Queen <a class=\"u-underline\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/science\/2013\/dec\/24\/enigma-codebreaker-alan-turing-royal-pardon\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">signed a posthumous pardon for him<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Turing\u2019s legacy lives on in the machines we take for granted every day, with his name also linked to burgeoning advances. The best known of these is the benchmark <a class=\"u-underline\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/technology\/2014\/jun\/09\/what-is-the-alan-turing-test\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">Turing <\/a><a class=\"u-underline\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/technology\/2014\/jun\/09\/what-is-the-alan-turing-test\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">test<\/a> for whether a machine that <a class=\"u-underline\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/technology\/2014\/jun\/09\/scientists-disagree-over-whether-turing-test-has-been-passed\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">can think like a human<\/a>, which hinges on whether human judges can distinguish a computer\u2019s text answers from those given by a person.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/technology\/2014\/jun\/09\/what-is-the-alan-turing-test\">The Guardian<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Nicola Davis, London, 15 July 2019 Personal life and substantial works of face of new \u00a350 note have only recently been properly appreciated Alan Turing, the face of the new \u00a350 note, is recognised as a key figure in Britain\u2019s codebreaking efforts at Bletchley Park during the second world war, a mathematical genius and even [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1001004,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7700"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1001004"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7700"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7700\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7734,"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7700\/revisions\/7734"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7700"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7700"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7700"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}