Alan Turing was undoubtedly one of the greatest intellects of the 20th century. In January, Nature called him 鈥渙ne of the top scientific minds of all time鈥�. It is easy to agree with that evaluation.
Turing essentially founded computer science, helped the Allies win the second world war with hard work and a succession of insights, asked fundamental questions about the nature of intelligence and its link with the brain鈥檚 structure, and laid the foundations for an area of biology that is only now being fully appreciated and researched.
But this wide-ranging, original and deep mind was lost in 1954 when he took his own life following his conviction for 鈥済ross indecency鈥� 鈥� essentially, for being a practising homosexual, which was illegal in the UK at that time.
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Turing died when computers were in their bulky infancy, when the structure of DNA had just been unravelled by Francis Crick and James Watson, and before artificial intelligence even had a name.
Turing鈥檚 record languished in relative obscurity until the 1970s 鈥� partly because of his homosexuality and suicide, and partly because of the deeply mathematical papers he produced and the secrecy surrounding his work at Bletchley Park.
After homosexuality was decriminalised in the UK in 1967, and the secrets of Bletchley Park were revealed, Turing鈥檚 legacy began to be recognised. Then in 1983, mathematician Andrew Hodges at the University of Oxford published the definitive biography of Turing (see 鈥淔urther reading鈥�) and Turing and his achievements became widely known and appreciated beyond academia.
Looking back now at the 41 years of Turing鈥檚 life and his continuing impact, we can only wonder what he would have turned his singular mind to next, had he lived the long and rich life he deserved.