Alan Turing

Last updated: 19 June 2012

This week, on the centenary of mathematician and codebreaker Alan Turing's birth, Adam and guests commemorate the life and work of the father of modern computing.

Broadcast Tuesday 19th June at 7pm

Listen to the latest programme online

Alan Turing aged 16 (Image courtesy of Sherborne School)

Alan Turing was the brilliant, talented mathematician whose pioneering work in early computing and wartime code-breaking left a legacy which still has a huge impact on our daily lives. His ideas for a form of programmable computing machine are the origin of the computers we all use today. And the application of Turing's brilliant mathematical mind to breaking German codes at Bletchley Park played an important part in the war effort. However, persecution for his homosexuality brought to an end both his ground-breaking career and, ultimately, his own life when he committed suicide at the age of 41.

In this week's programme Adam discusses Turing's contribution to computer science from the Turing Machine to the Turing Test, his revolutionary work helping to crack German codes in the Second World War and his influence on many of today's scientists and mathematicians.

Adam is joined by mathematicians Sir Roger Penrose from Oxford University and Prof. Barry Cooper from the University of Leeds and computer scientist Dr. Tom Crick from Cardiff Metropolitan University. We also hear from science writer Dr. Simon Singh and from Michael Woodger, Turing's assistant at the National Physical Laboratory in the 1940s.

Links

BBC History: Alan Turing

Turing Centenary

Andrew Hodges' Alan Turing Home Page

Wikipedia: Alan Turing


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