During the Second World War Alan Turing worked for the Government Code and Cypher School (GC&CS) at Bletchley Park, Britain's Code Breaking Centre. For a time he led Hut 8, the section responsible for deciphering German Naval codes. He devised a number of techniques for breaking German ciphers, that could find settings for the 'Enigma' machine. Turing's pivotal role in cracking intercepted 'Enigma' and 'Lorenz' coded messages enabled the Allies to defeat the Nazis in many crucial engagements, including the Battle of the Atlantic. It has been estimated that the work at Bletchley Park shortened the war in Europe by as many as two to four years.

"You needed exceptional talent, you needed genius

at Bletchley and Turing was that genius."

After the war, he worked at the National Physical Laboratory, where he produced some of the first designs for a stored-program computer. In 1948 Turing joined Manchester University, where he helped develop the Manchester computers. The Manchester Small-Scale Experimental Machine, nicknamed 'Baby' was the world's first stored-program computer.

Turing was prosecuted in 1952 for homosexual acts but was pardoned by the Queen in 2013 - 59 years after his death at the age of 41.

Source: www.bbc.co.uk/timelines

Images: Believed to be in the Public Domain or used with permission

Photo: Science & Society Picture Library