Bio/Description
Turing Spotlight

Field of Study: Computer Science, Mathematics, Cognitive Science

Active Research Area: 20th century (year of death: 1954)

Affiliated Institution(s)/Place(s) of Work:

  • University of Cambridge
  • King's College
  • Princeton University

Related Princeton Course(s)

  • COS 302
  • COS 324
  • COS 487
  • MAT 407
  • PSY 255
  • SPI 353

The scientist is most known for:

Considered to be the father of modern computer science and pioneer of artificial intelligence (the basis of which was a procedure he developed and named the "Turing Test").

Gender: Male

County of Origin: United Kingdom

URM Identity: LGBTQ+

Barriers broken by this scientist:

Despite his brilliance and invaluable contributions to the field of computer science, Dr. Turing was persecuted throughout his short life, which ended by cyanide poisoning at the age of 41. His 1952 conviction for homosexuality - then a crime in Britain - was pardoned by the Queen in 2009 - 55 years after his death.
Turing's portrait hangs in Lewis Library.

Citations and where to learn more:

Valenti, Denise. “Four New Portraits Serve as 'Visible Expression of Princeton' Today.” Princeton University. The Trustees of Princeton University, September 25, 2019. https://www.princeton.edu/news/2019/09/25/four-new-portraits-serve-visi….

Copeland, B.J. “Alan Turing” Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica, inc., July 20, 1998. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Alan-Turing.

Turing, A.M. (1937). "On Computable Numbers, with an Application to the Entscheidungsproblem". Proceedings of the London Mathematical Society.

 

Nominated by Penelope Georges