Alan M. Turing.

British Mathematician and Cryptographer
1912–1954

Alan Mathison Turing was one of the leading theoreticians in computer science. Turing was something of a visionary in that his hypothetical "Turing Machine" set the standard for the description of computation and its relation to human computing.

Education

Turing was born on June 23, 1912, to upper-middle-class parents in London, England. He was educated in traditional British schools including St. Michael's, a day school, where he learned Latin; Hazelhurst, a preparatory boarding school, where he studied to pass Great Britain's Common Entrance exam; Sherbourne, a high-school-level boarding institution, where he prepared for university admission; and finally, King's College, Cambridge, for university.

Upon graduation from the university, he won a research scholarship of 200 British pounds per year, which enabled him to stay on another year and try for a King's fellowship. This required a dissertation, which he wrote on...