Alan Turing - the father of computer science

If you are a technology enthusiast, have you ever known Alan Turing - the father of computer science and artificial intelligence as well as his life full of tragedies?

On August 19, 2014, the whole world witnessed a turning point in the history of mathematics. Finally, after a long period of time that the UK Government must apologize to one of the greatest mathematicians of the 20th century, Queen Elizabeth II issued an amnesty to Alan Turing ( 1912-1954) - He was accused of homosexual behavior in 1952 - after his death.

Referring to Alan Turing, we cannot fail to mention his historical contributions in World War II when helping the Allies to decipher the secret information of Nazi Germany. And before that was the idea of ​​turning pure computers into powerful and versatile machines like today's supercomputers.

The statue of the great mathematician Alan Turing at the museum of Bletchley Park, which was once a British decoding research center during World War II.

And today, computers aren't just for computing."Computer " is the word for individuals who are skilled in solving arithmetic operations. Until the 19th century, people began to use this term to refer to machines that replaced humans to solve problems. The advantage of these computers is the super-fast computing speed, especially after the 20th century, when electronic components replaced gears to become the core of the computer.

However, the disadvantages of these early computers are the ability to build a solution to solve a specific problem. To use computers for a different purpose, one must change their circuits. Computers still maintained this mode of operation until 1936, when English math student Alan Turing came up with the idea that a computer could solve any problem, not just pure calculation.

Accordingly, suppose the problem is converted into mathematical expressions, then encode them into a sequence of logical expressions of binary digits and only leads to one of two results: True or False. This idea simplifies everything (from numbers, characters to images and sounds) into ranges of numbers consisting of only two digits 0 and 1 and then applies a formula - or a program - to solve the problem. in the simplest way. From here, the digital computer was born, although at that time it was still a virtual machine.

During World War II, helping the Allies decipher Nazi messages encoded by the invincible machine Enigma , mathematician Alan Turing invented one of the current computers. the first great. Accordingly, in addition to programming, this digital computer also performs many other functions just by switching channels.

If you put your computer in an era where the power of computers increases 2.5 times per year like today (Gordon Moore's prediction in 1965), it will be just an outdated machine. So speaking, the success of this obsolete computer comes from the title of "the first electronic brain".

Alan Turing has immortal belief that computers can also think like people, and with the right software, they can talk that we cannot distinguish whether the speaker is human or just a deck. senseless machine.Turing Test - The intellectual ability test of the computer first mentioned in 1950 in the article " Computer and wisdom" - was born from here. The test is performed when a player discusses with a person and a computer. A computer passes the test and is considered capable of thinking when the player cannot recognize who is the computer and who is the human being. However, it is regrettable that until now, no computer has passed this test.

In 1952, Turing, then 40 years old, was the first to initiate artificial intelligence . However, it was at the height of his career that the genius of the genius mathematician suddenly turned into hell when he was arrested and charged with indecent homosexual relations. After being accused, he was not allowed to use the technical facilities of the Bletchley Park Cryptography Center, UK, where he and his colleagues had worked during World War II.

Not accepting the prison sentence, he opted to be under house arrest under the condition of having to take part in the treatment of female hormonal hormones to limit sexual demands despite knowing this method of anti-science. Two years after he started receiving " chemical castration " treatment, Alan Turing was discovered on his June 7, 1954 home.

Police investigation and autopsy reports say the cause of death is cyanide poisoning. Besides, when conducting a field examination, one finds a bitten apple beside the body. Based on evidence found at the scene, experts concluded Alan Turing had injected cyanide into an apple before eating. However, due to not examining the apple, there are many other theories about the genius mathematician's death arising as: Suddenly inhaling cyanide gas, an extremely toxic chemical that he used to conduct experiment in my room.

Portrait of mathematician Alan Turing (1912-1954)

Although there are many doubts about Alan Turing's suicide, it is certain that he decided to end his life because he could not endure the rulers and harshness of the authorities and society towards homosexuals as well as the pain during treatment with "castration" therapy soon ended one year before his death.

At the same time, there is not any evidence to confirm Apple 's battered apple logo - which is considered the leading smart phone manufacturer that has made the revolution in computer science into 1970s - Alan Turing's tribute wreath. Despite the assumption of a coincidence of rainbow colors in Apple's original logo with a gay flag, Steve Jobs - the founder of Apple - denies that it is not the origin of the logo. He shared with the writer, actor Stephen Fry: " We would love the company's logo to come from this sense but unfortunately not."

The memorial wreath was actually Turing's partner with the Turing Award, which was initiated in 1966, which is equivalent to the Nobel Prize for computer science. By the end of the 20th century, this award was recognized worldwide. And in 2009, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown formally apologized to Alan Turing for errors in treatment instead of an answer to the online petition asking for royal amnesty for Great mathematician of England.

Alan Turing's honor was not restored, however, on the 100th anniversary of his birth in 2012, delayed by political reservations and complicated amnesty. Until August 2014, royal amnesty was issued to "commemorate mathematician Alan Turing for his contributions during the war, not for later accusations . " This is a special measure symbolized by an amnesty that is only issued when the offender is proved innocent.

At the same time, Queen Elizabeth II's royal decree opened the way for another revolution. In February 2015, the family of mathematicians requested an amnesty after their death for nearly 50,000 other people convicted in homosexuality for homosexual acts that were considered illegal in the kingdom. from 1885 to 1967