Alan Turing
Alan Mathison Turing (23 June 1912 - 7 June 1954) was a British mathematician, logician, and cryptographer widely regarded as one of the fathers of modern computer science. During World War II, he played a crucial role in breaking the Enigma code used by Nazi Germany, significantly aiding the Allied victory. Turing also introduced the concept of the Turing machine, a theoretical model that laid the groundwork for the development of computers and artificial intelligence. Despite his groundbreaking contributions, he was persecuted for his homosexuality, which deeply affected his personal life. His legacy has since been honored, and he is now recognized as a symbol of both scientific innovation and human rights.
Quotes
- A man provided with paper, pencil, and rubber, and subject to strict discipline, is in effect a universal machine.
- Mathematical reasoning may be regarded rather schematically as the exercise of a combination of two facilities, which we may call intuition and ingenuity. The activity of the intuition consists in making spontaneous judgements which are not the result of conscious trains of reasoning... The exercise of ingenuity in mathematics consists in aiding the intuition through suitable arrangements of propositions, and perhaps geometrical figures or drawings.
- Science is a differential equation. Religion is a boundary condition.
- I am not very impressed with theological arguments whatever they may be used to support. Such arguments have often been found unsatisfactory in the past. In the time of Galileo it was argued that the texts, "And the sun stood still... and hasted not to go down about a whole day" (Joshua x. 13) and "He laid the foundations of the earth, that it should not move at any time" (Psalm cv. 5) were an adequate refutation of the Copernican theory.