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'''Alan Mathison Turing''' (23 June 1912 – 7 June 1954) was a British mathematician who is generally recognized as the father of computer science.<ref>[http://books.google.de/books?id=r5kOgS1IB-8C&pg=PA35&hl=de#v=onepage&q&f=false Steven Homer, Alan L. Selman: ''Computability and Complexity Theory''], p. 35</ref>  He also made contributions to [[cryptography]],<ref>[http://www.turing.org.uk/bio The Biography of Alan Turing], ''turing.org''</ref> and [[artificial intelligence]].

'''Alan Mathison Turing''' (23 June 1912 – 7 June 1954) was a British [[mathematician]] who was an early contributor to computer science.<ref>[http://books.google.de/books?id=r5kOgS1IB-8C&pg=PA35&hl=de#v=onepage&q&f=false Steven Homer, Alan L. Selman: ''Computability and Complexity Theory''], p. 35</ref>  He also made contributions to [[cryptography]],<ref>[http://www.turing.org.uk/bio The Biography of Alan Turing], ''turing.org''</ref> and [[artificial intelligence]].  Turing is an icon among university [[homosexual]]s, and in 2021 was placed by [[Great Britain]] on its 50-pound note despite his obscurity to the general public.  

Inventing computer science is not the same as inventing the computer.  The invention of the computer&mdash;that is, a device that can automatically process data algorithmically, goes back to the non-electronic "analytical engine" devised (but never actually built) by [[Charles Babbage]] and [[Ada Lovelace]].  Actual electronic computers were invented by John Atanasoff in the 1930s and J. Presper Eckert and John Mauchly in the 1940s, among others.  Alan Turing was associated with one of the early engineering efforts in the 1940s to make practical computers, the "ACE" (Automatic Computing Engine) project at the UK's National Physical Laboratory, but it was bested by the ENIAC, EDSAC, and EDVAC projects elsewhere.

Inventing computer science is not the same as inventing the computer.  The invention of the computer&mdash;that is, a device that can automatically process data algorithmically, goes back to the non-electronic "analytical engine" devised (but never actually built) by [[Charles Babbage]] and [[Ada Lovelace]].  Actual electronic computers were invented by John Atanasoff in the 1930s and J. Presper Eckert and John Mauchly in the 1940s, among others.  Alan Turing was associated with one of the early engineering efforts in the 1940s to make practical computers, the "ACE" (Automatic Computing Engine) project at the UK's National Physical Laboratory, but it was bested by the ENIAC, EDSAC, and EDVAC projects elsewhere.

Alan Turing's claim to fame came from the invention of the field of [[Computer science]].  He took the concepts of mathematical logic and recursive function theory, from such people and Alonzo Church and [[Kurt Gödel ]], and showed that a certain type of automatic computing device, called a [[Turing machine]], was deeply connected to those concepts.  His major paper on the subject was the 1937 paper ''On Computable Numbers, with an Application to the Entscheidungsproblem'', in the Proceedings of the London Mathematical Society.  ("Entscheidungsproblem" is a German word for "decision problem", a term that logicians were using.)  The concepts of [[Undecidable|Decidability]], the [[Halting problem]], and the [[Turing machine]], all staples of college-level computer science, originated with him.

Alan Turing's worked in the field of [[Computer science]].  He took the concepts of mathematical logic and recursive function theory, from such people and Alonzo Church and [[Kurt Gödel ]], and showed that a certain type of automatic computing device, called a [[Turing machine]], was deeply connected to those concepts.  His major paper on the subject was the 1937 paper ''On Computable Numbers, with an Application to the Entscheidungsproblem'', in the Proceedings of the London Mathematical Society.  ("Entscheidungsproblem" is a German word for "decision problem", a term that logicians were using.)  The concepts of [[Undecidable|Decidability]], the [[Halting problem]], and the [[Turing machine]], all staples of college-level computer science, originated with him.

Turing is also known for his contributions to the Allied war effort in [[World War II]] with the work of breaking the Nazi [[Enigma]] codes.  He formuated the "[[Turing Test]]" as a criterion for determining whether a computer can actually exhibit humanlike intelligence.

Turing is also known for his contributions to the Allied war effort in [[World War II]] with the work of breaking the Nazi [[Enigma]] codes.  He formulated the "[[Turing Test]]" as a criterion for determining whether a computer can actually exhibit humanlike intelligence.

There is a prestigious annual "Turing Award", considered the computer science equivalent of the [[Nobel Prize]], named after him, and a separate annual invited "Turing Lecture" in the UK.  There are buildings named after him, and statues of him at Bletchley Park, where the wartime cryptography work was done, and in Manchester.

There is a prestigious annual "Turing Award", considered the computer science equivalent of the [[Nobel Prize]], named after him, and a separate annual invited "Turing Lecture" in the UK.  There are buildings named after him, and statues of him at Bletchley Park, where the wartime cryptography work was done, and in Manchester.