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“Alan Turing: the Journey of a Racing Mind” Vali Martinez Senior Division

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“Alan Turing: the Journey of a Racing Mind” Vali Martinez Senior Division “Alan Turing: The Journey of a Racing Mind” Vali Martinez Senior Division Individual Paper Word Count: 2,463 1 “Sometimes it is the people no one imagines anything of who do the things that no one can imagine.” 1 The Second World War persists in history as the most atrocious and utterly mortifying tragedy to befall globally. The malicious master Adolf Hitler banded with Germany, Italy, and Japan to coerce any individual set contumacious in his trail, continuously surmounting country after a helpless nation. In numerous circumstances, the advancements of the dictator's army were due to the German encryption mechanisms operating to transmit confidential combat communications. Striding forward to suffice the critical need of a penetrating mind to crack the seemingly impenetrable cryptograms, Alan Turing shined amidst the thousands that served to interpret reports from the prevalent German Enigma Machine. Turing's magnanimous wisdom drove him to vital contributions throughout the 20th-century conflict, and his lifelong benefactions to mathematics, in addition to the harsh penalty he sustained for existing as a homosexual individual, assisted in developing the position of such topics in modern-day society. Since boyhood, Turing displayed the prime demonstration of an extraordinary intellect. Born on June 23, 1912, in Maida Vale, London, the United Kingdom, the juvenile was raised with his older brother and mother (rarely witnessing the presence of his father, who was elsewhere in Chennai in the Indian Civil Service). 2 His inquisitiveness in science and biology first sparked at age ten when he received a novel with the title Nature’s Wonders . 3 His intelligence progressed throughout the stages of his youth, and he even achieved the magnificent feat of accurately condensing Einstein’s Theory of Relativity at only 15 years old. 4 In 1926, Turing attended 1 Quote said by Alan Turing, used in The Imitation Game film. 2 “ Alan Turing- BBC Horizon Documentary.” YouTube, Uploaded by documontair DH1, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-sTs2o0VuY. Accessed 25 January 2020. 3 “ Alan Turing- BBC Horizon Documentary.” YouTube, Uploaded by documontair DH1, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-sTs2o0VuY. Accessed 25 January 2020. 4 G rime, James. “Alan Turing- Celebrating the life of a genius.” YouTube, Uploaded by Cambridge University, 21 June 12th, 2 Shelbourne High School, where extensive schooling of materials such as Latin, Greek, and English literature failed to meet his demands for advanced math and science education. 5 In the early 1900s, scientific subjects were considered an improper pursuit for adolescent boys, which was why Turing's mother nudged him to study more adequate classes. 6 During his time in Shelbourne, Turing’s reserved manner often caused problems when socializing with classmates, 7 until he met Christopher Morcom. The two shared a profound passion for science and mathematics. Just as Turing began to develop feelings for his classmate, Morcom died of bovine tuberculosis, a plaguing ailment he had concealed from his companion. 8 While the discovery of Morcom’s departure left Turing in a devastated state, it motivated his investigation of consciousness and how a spirit can be present at one moment and gone the next. From that point forward, the broken boy strived to make sense of the mind and its unraveling nature. Turing advanced on to King's College in Cambridge in 1931, where he served as an undergraduate student and recognized the work of German mathematician David Hilbert and his complex Entscheidungsproblem . 9 Known to stand among the most challenging, unsolved mathematics problems of the century, the Entscheidungsproblem questioned the possibility of a method capable of determining if any given mathematical proposition could be proven . 10 The complexity of the inquiry, which included correctly defining terms such as what a ‘definite method’ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gtRLmL70TH0. Accessed 25 January 2020. 5 O ne school report from Alan’s headmaster at Shelbourne said, “I hope he will not fall between two stools. If he is to stay at Public School he must aim at becoming educated. If he is to be solely a scientific specialist, he is wasting his time at a Public School.” In the UK, private schools were referred to Public schools, which provided education of Latin, Greek, and literature. Turing was encouraged to attend an academy that specialized in subjects he excelled at, like mathematics and science, instead of staying at a Private school. 6 J acobson, Rebecca. “8 things you didn’t know about Alan Turing.” PBS, 28 November 2014, https://www.pbs.org/newshour/science/8-things-didnt-know-alan-turing. Accessed 23 January 2020. 7 T he Imitation Game film displays young Turing as a socially awkward boy who mostly keeps to himself, but often gets harshly bullied by other classmates. 8 Bovine tuberculosis is a chronic and contagious disease extremely rare in humans that can be caused by either inhaling infected droplets expelled by coughing or by direct contact from a wound. 9 G erman name for “decision problem”. 10 H odges, Andrew. “Alan Turing.” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 30 September 2013, https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/turing/. Accessed 15 December 2019. 3 was or what made an ‘effective procedure’ successful, inspired Turing to devise a mechanism that would embody the most general mechanical process that could be carried out by any human. 11 This Turing Machine, intended to flawlessly capture how an active mind maneuvers, proceeded to elevate to the degree of being implemented to computable numbers . 12 While the system remained a mere simplistic vision, not intended to be physically produced, Turing recognized the importance of proving the efficiency of the Turing Machine by confirming the accuracy of its operations. 13 Nevertheless, Turing failed to establish the Entscheidungsproblem's theory in the positive; while processing an intricacy, the machine would either suspend when bestowing the solution or proceed infinitely if the resolution was absent. Referencing the example of the Entscheidungsproblem , he used the Turing Machine to come to the conclusion that one could not determine whether a machine with a given input would halt or not. 14 Acknowledged as the Halting Problem , it attested that dark areas in the world of mathematics “will always remain a barrier to complete truth.” (Grime). 15 Following his graduation from Cambridge in 1934, Turing’s mathematics degree and successful dissertation in the probability theory earned him the title of Fellowship of King’s College. 16 A fter completing his earliest triumph, On Computable Numbers, With an Application to the Entscheidungsproblem , the mathematician was admitted into Princeton University, 17 where he 11 H odges, Andrew. “Alan Turing.” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 30 September 2013, https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/turing/. Accessed 15 December 2019. 12 S ee Appendix C. 13 H odges, Andrew. “Alan Turing.” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 30 September 2013, https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/turing/. Accessed 15 December 2019. 14 G rime, James. “Alan Turing- Celebrating the life of a genius.” YouTube, Uploaded by Cambridge University, 21 June 12th, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gtRLmL70TH0. Accessed 25 January 2020. 15 G rime, James. “Alan Turing- Celebrating the life of a genius.” YouTube, Uploaded by Cambridge University, 21 June 12th, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gtRLmL70TH0. Accessed 25 January 2020. 16 H odges, Andrew. “Alan Turing.” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 30 September 2013, https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/turing/. Accessed 15 December 2019. 17 H odges, Andrew. “Alan Turing.” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 30 September 2013, https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/turing/. Accessed 15 December 2019. 4 studied as an undergraduate and completed a Ph.D. under the guidance of Alonzo Church. 18 Turing was meriting the title of “brilliant mathematician” through his meaningful participation in mathematics at just 22 years old. In the meantime, one calamitous world war began its intensification. At a previous point before the conflict, a German army clerk withdrew secret records of critical set-up instructions of the Enigma Machine. 19 The Germans had gotten a hold on an Enigma in 1928, 20 apprehending its ability to send instant messages over extended mileage during the war. The French and British's dismissal of the valuable documents caused the data to be relinquished to Polish mathematician Zvkowski Rosecki, who initiated the arduous procedure of determining how to solve the complex figure. 21 By September 1st, 1939, 22 Adolf Hitler had invaded Poland. 23 The Polish Invasion prevented the continuation of the cipher bureau's research on the Enigma, so the Polish transferred the puzzle to the British. The commenced analysis supplied the top-level cryptanalysts at Bletchley Park, the headquarters of the British code-breaking effort, a head start. 24 “This morning, the British Ambassador in Berlin handed the German Government a final note stating that unless we heard from them, by 11:00, a state of war would exist between us… This country is at war with Germany.” 25 As the proclamation of war was announced to the masses 18 A lonzo Church was an American mathematician who made significant contributions to computer science. He was Turing’s PhD advisor at Princeton, and the two co-founded the Church-Turing Thesis, which states that a problem can be effectively calculated if and only if it is computable by a Turing Machine. 19 “ Greatest Mysteries Of World War 2 Hitler’s Enigma.” YouTube , Uploaded by TheNaziGermany1945, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_BL0M08-B4. Accessed 12 January 2020. 20 G rime, James. “Alan Turing and The Enigma Machine | James Grime” YouTube, Uploaded by Houston Oasis, 7 April 2019, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fcQMxUsYzAQ. Accessed 25 January 2020. 21 “ Greatest Mysteries Of World War 2 Hitler’s Enigma.” YouTube , Uploaded by TheNaziGermany1945, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_BL0M08-B4.
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