- published: 17 Feb 2011
- views: 144509
Alan Mathison Turing, OBE, FRS ( /ˈtjʊərɪŋ/ TEWR-ing; 23 June 1912 – 7 June 1954), was an English mathematician, logician, cryptanalyst, and computer scientist. He was highly influential in the development of computer science, providing a formalisation of the concepts of "algorithm" and "computation" with the Turing machine, which played a significant role in the creation of the modern computer. Turing is widely considered to be the father of computer science and artificial intelligence.
During the Second World War, Turing worked for the Government Code and Cypher School (GCCS) at Bletchley Park, Britain's codebreaking centre. For a time he was head of Hut 8, the section responsible for German naval cryptanalysis. He devised a number of techniques for breaking German ciphers, including the method of the bombe, an electromechanical machine that could find settings for the Enigma machine.
After the war he worked at the National Physical Laboratory, where he created one of the first designs for a stored-program computer, the ACE. In 1948 Turing joined Max Newman's Computing Laboratory at Manchester University, where he assisted in the development of the Manchester computers and became interested in mathematical biology. He wrote a paper on the chemical basis of morphogenesis, and he predicted oscillating chemical reactions such as the Belousov–Zhabotinsky reaction, which were first observed in the 1960s.
Actors: Benedict Cumberbatch (actor), Chris Cowlin (actor), Keira Knightley (actress), Mark Strong (actor), Stuart Matthews (actor), Charles Dance (actor), Beverly Winston (miscellaneous crew), Clint Mansell (composer), Lee Asquith-Coe (actor), David Broder (miscellaneous crew), William Goldenberg (editor), Denis Khoroshko (actor), Tom Goodman-Hill (actor), Richard George (miscellaneous crew), Matthew Goode (actor),
Genres: Biography, Drama, Thriller,Actors: Carl Wharton (actor), Clay Whitter (actor), Andrew McKee (editor), Mark Sheals (actor), Sam Edge (actor), Pete Wild (producer), Pete Wild (writer), Andrew Phillips (composer), Pete Wild (director), Michael Ross (actor), Ian Pink (actor), Michael Justice (actor), Clare Cameron (actress), Wayne Allsop (actor), Peter Easterbrook (actor),
Plot: A missing message from rogue mathematician Alan Turing surfaces as part of the celebrations for his 100th birthday... in code it provides the key to a century old puzzle that if solved will bestow academic immortality - and crash the world into chaos.
Keywords: enigma, math, mathematicsActors: Paul McGann (actor), Heidi Reavis (miscellaneous crew), Henry Goodman (actor), Steve Wozniak (actor), Ed Stoppard (actor), Simon Berthon (miscellaneous crew), Simon Berthon (writer), Nicole Page (miscellaneous crew), Edward White (composer), Tom Bott (miscellaneous crew), Paul Sen (producer), Paul Ashby (producer), Clare Beavan (producer), Clare Beavan (director), Leigh Brzeski (editor),
Plot: The highs and lows of Alan Turing's life, tracking his extraordinary accomplishments, his government persecution through to his tragic death in 1954. In the last 18 months of his short life, Turing visited a psychiatrist, Dr. Franz Greenbaum, who tried to help him. Each therapy session in this drama documentary is based on real events. The conversations between Turing and Greenbaum explore the pivotal moments in his controversial life and examine the pressures that may have contributed to his early death. The film also includes the testimony of people who actually knew and remember Turing. Plus, this film features interviews with contemporary experts from the world of technology and high science including Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak. These contributors bring Turing's exciting impact up to the present day, explaining why, in many ways, modern technology has only just begun to explore the potential of Turing's ideas.
Keywords: code-breaking, computer, drama-documentary, gay-interest, gay-man, gay-scientist, great-britain, homophobia, homosexuality, mathematicianActors: Harold Pinter (actor), Richard Johnson (actor), Prunella Scales (actress), Derek Jacobi (actor), Alun Armstrong (actor), Rebecca Eaton (producer), Hugh Whitemore (writer), Adam Richards (miscellaneous crew), Blake Ritson (actor), Amanda Root (actress), Herbert Wise (director), Frances Tempest (costume designer), Julian Kerridge (actor), Laurence Méry-Clark (editor), Susie Jones (miscellaneous crew),
Plot: A biography of the English mathematician Alan Turing, who was one of the inventors of the digital computer and one of the key figures in the breaking of the Enigma code, used by the Germans to send secret orders to their U-boats in World War II. Turing was also a homosexual in Britain at a time when this was illegal, besides being a security risk.
Keywords: based-on-book, based-on-play, closeted-homosexual, code, code-breaking, comic-relief, compassion, computer, computer-programmer, cryptography