Alan Turing's Milestones
Birth
Alan Turing was born in Maida Vale, London, to Julius Mathison Turing and Ethel Sara Stoney.
Family moved to India
Turing's father worked in the Indian Civil Service; Alan and his brother stayed in England.
Early education
Attended Hazelhurst Preparatory School, showing early aptitude for science and mathematics.
Attended Sherborne School
Attended Sherborne School, Dorset, showing early signs of mathematical genius and interest in chemistry.
Death of friend Christopher Morcom
The death of his close friend Christopher Morcom deeply affected Turing and inspired his scientific pursuits.
King's College, Cambridge
Studied mathematics at King's College, University of Cambridge, graduating with first-class honors.
Fellowship at King's College
Elected a Fellow of King's College, Cambridge, for research in probability theory.
Princeton University
Studied for a PhD in mathematics at Princeton University under Alonzo Church, working on logic, algebra, and cryptography.
Published 'On Computable Numbers'
Published 'On Computable Numbers,' introducing the concept of the Turing machine, foundational to computer science.
Returned to Cambridge
Returned to Cambridge and attended lectures by Ludwig Wittgenstein.
Bletchley Park and Enigma
Worked at Bletchley Park, leading Hut 8 in breaking the German Enigma code during World War II.
Developed Bombe machine
Designed the electromechanical Bombe machine, which helped decipher Enigma-encrypted messages.
Developed Banburismus
Developed the Banburismus statistical technique to optimize Enigma codebreaking.
Worked on Lorenz cipher (Tunny)
Contributed to the breaking of the Lorenz cipher, used for high-level Nazi communications.
Awarded OBE
Awarded the Order of the British Empire for wartime services.
ACE project
Worked on the design of the Automatic Computing Engine (ACE) at the National Physical Laboratory, one of the earliest designs for a stored-program computer.
Manchester Mark I and AI
Worked at the University of Manchester on the Mark I computer and on early artificial intelligence concepts, including the Turing Test.
Turing Test published
Published 'Computing Machinery and Intelligence,' proposing the Turing Test for machine intelligence.
Conviction and chemical castration
Convicted of gross indecency due to his homosexuality and subjected to chemical castration.
Death
Alan Turing died by cyanide poisoning in Wilmslow, Cheshire, in what was ruled a suicide.
Posthumous recognition
Recognized as the father of computer science; posthumously pardoned in 2013, with the Turing Law extending pardons to others.