Alan Turing 1912 1954

1
Alan Turing1912- 1954

• Founder of Computer Science, Mathematician,
  Philosopher, code-breaker and adopted
  Mathematician
• of the
• English Department

2
Bletchley Park

• During the second World War Turing worked at
  Bletchley Park, the UKs code breaking centre
• He was head of Hut 8, the section responsible for
  German naval cryptanalysis
• He devised a system for breaking the codes of the
  German Enigma Machine
• This helped Britain win the Battle of the
  Atlantic against German U Boats

3
Cryptanalysis

• Cryptanalysis (from the Greek kryptós, "hidden",
  and analýein, "to loosen" or "to untie") is the
  study of methods for obtaining the meaning of
  encrypted information, without access to the
  secret information which is normally required to
  do so. Typically, this involves finding a secret
  key. In non-technical language, this is the
  practice of codebreaking or cracking the code,
  although these phrases also have a specialised
  technical meaning (see code).

4
Alan Turing himself

• He is considered to be the father of modern
  computer science
• He helped define Artificial Intelligence through
  the Turing Test
• He created a computer called the bombe to help
  break German ciphers

5
Books on Alan Turing

• Robert Harris wrote a thriller about events at
  Bletchley Park during the Second World War called
  Enigma
• In it real events are combined with the murder of
  one of the key scientists

6
Alan Turing in film

• The book became a film of the same name in 2007
• The film stars Kate Winslet of Titanic fame and
  Dougray Scott from Mission Impossible III
• During his life however Turings work was so
  secret that no knew what he did!

7
Bletchley Park

• There is now a memorial to Turing at Bletchley
  Park
• The mansion is now owned by the National Trust
  and is open to the public
• It contains the original Enigma machine captured
  from a German submarine by a British ship as the
  submarine sank
• This is made famous in the 2000 film U571,
  although the Americans completely changed history
  by having Jon Bon Jovi climb aboard the sinking
  submarine to capture the enigma machine

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What can you do next?

• Bletchley Park desperately needs 10m to carry
  out maintenance to save its buildings
• A campaign is being led by the Royal British
  legion and Stephen Fry to raise the funds needed
  to save the site for future generations
• You can sign a petition to urge the Government to
  sponsor this museum at www.snipurl.com/3f7h3
• Or visit the Bletchley park site itself at
  www.bletchleypark.org.uk
• Better still visit!