During WW2, the Nazis used U-Boats to sink many ships belonging to the Allies. They were a huge threat as the Allies didn’t know the location or paths of these U-Boats because of Enigma. Enigma is an encryption method which made all Nazi movements unpredictable.

The British were trying to solve Enigma. They assembled a group of members who could possibly solve it at Bletchley Park. One of the members was Alan Turing. Alan Turing was a mathematician and quite possibly the first modern computer scientist. He helped in solving the enigma code using machines. He believed humans could not decode the code themselves but needed to be solved using machines.

His machine was able to decode the enigma code. His machine was able to shorten the war by many years and helped save many lives. He was a crucial part in the Allied victory.

Other than his work during the WW2, he is also known for his work in computers or the then known ‘Turing Machines’ and the ‘Turing Test’

Turing Machines

The Turing machine is a mathematical model that produces an output using predefined rules and given variables. While the Turing Machine itself has never been made, it has has inspired many machines such as computers.

Turing Test

Alan Turing was one of the first people to think about AI (Artificial Intelligence). He said,

“I propose to consider the question, ‘Can machines think?”

He wanted to figure out if machines could be as smart as humans. He developed a test called the Turing Test which was used to test the ability of a machine to exhibit human like interactions.

The test would have 1 human evaluator with the machine for testing and another human. The evaluator should be able to hold conversation with both of them. If the evaluator finds that the conversations are indistinguishable between the machine and the human, the machine passes the Turing Test.

People try and create machine which can pass the Turing Test and make them compete for the Loebner Prize.

Alan Turing was an important figure in history. He helped the Allies win a war. He helped progress the field of computer technology a lot. This blog might have not existed without his contribution in this field. He will become an increasingly important figure in the future due to his work on AI. He is a man who must not be forgotten throughout the ages.