ETHICS
ALAN TURING : FATHER OF AI
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Alan Turing is best known for his code breaking work at Bletchley Park during the Second World War , but he left behind a legacy of computer science progress that would lead to computational development , particularly algorithms , and the birth of AI . He studied at King ’ s College , Cambridge , where he excelled at maths and was awarded a fellowship . Turing went on to develop a concept called the ‘ universal computing machine ’ which could solve any mathematical problem as long as it could be represented as an algorithm . The resulting Turing machine remains central to the study of computational theory .
Turing was born in London in 1912 . Frequently described by colleagues as a genius , he was also an eccentric who is said to have worn a gas mask to fend off hayfever , counted the revolutions of his bicycle pedals to ascertain when the chain would fall off and chained his mug to the radiator to prevent its theft . He was prosecuted for homosexual acts in 1952 , for which he accepted chemical castration as an alternative to prison . He died , aged 41 , as a result of cyanide poisoning . The inquest determined suicide .
DECEMBER 2020