Turing, Alan Mathison
Turing, Alan Mathison
| Topics: |  Environmental Information |
Alan Mathison Turing. (Source: Berkeley)
Alan Mathison Turing (1912-1954), a British mathematician and cryptographer, is considered to be one of the founders of modern computer science. He developed what became known as the Turing machine in 1936, an abstract representation of a computing device. The Turing machine is still widely used in theoretical computer science today, especially in complexity theory and the theory of computation. He formulated the now widely accepted 'Turing' version of the Church-Turing thesis, namely that any practical computing model has either the equivalent or a subset of the capabilities of a Turing machine.
During World War II, he was the director of the Naval Enigma Hut at Bletchley Park where he played a major role in cracking Nazi ciphers. After the war, he designed one of the earliest electronic programmable digital computers at the National Physical Laboratory and the University of Manchester.
Citation
Cutler Cleveland (Lead Author);Peter Saundry (Topic Editor) "Turing, Alan Mathison". In: Encyclopedia of Earth. Eds. Cutler J. Cleveland (Washington, D.C.: Environmental Information Coalition, National Council for Science and the Environment). [First published in the Encyclopedia of Earth March 19, 2007; Last revised Date March 19, 2007; Retrieved February 8, 2012 <http://www.eoearth.org/article/Turing,_Alan_Mathison>
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Editor-in-Chief
The Encyclopedia of Earth Cutler J. Cleveland is the founding Editor-in-Chief of the Encyclopedia of Earth. Dr. Cleveland is currently a Professor in the Department of Geography and Environment at Boston University, with joint appointments in the Center for Energy and Environmental Studies and the Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer Range Future. He also is a Senior Fellow at the National Council for Science and the Environment in Washington D.C. Dr. Cleveland is als ... (Full Bio)
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