Maison d'Ętre Philosophy Bookstore
Alan Turing
[1912-54]
| short profile | ![portrait of British computer genius Alan Turing [1912-54]](images/AlanTuring-portrait.jpg "portrait of British computer genius Alan Turing [1912-54]") |
"We can only see a short distance ahead, but we can see plenty there that needs to be done."
"Sometimes it's the people [that] no one imagines anything of who do the things that no one can imagine."
The Turing Test: "A computer would deserve to be called intelligent if it could deceive a human into believing that it was human."
"Science is a differential equation. Religion is a boundary condition."
"Machines take me by surprise with great frequency."
"We are not interested in the fact that the brain has the consistency of cold porridge."
"Mathematical reasoning may be regarded rather schematically as the exercise of a combination of two facilities,
which we may call intuition and ingenuity."
"One day ladies will take their computers for walks in the park and tell each other, 'My little computer said such a funny thing this morning'."
"I believe that at the end of the century the use of words and general educated opinion will have altered so much that
one will be able to speak of machines thinking without expecting to be contradicted."
— Alan Turing
B I O
t e x t
h e r e
Alan Mathison Turing, OBE, FRS (23 June 1912 – 7 June 1954)
Alan Turing was elected to the Royal Society in 1951,
listed on TIME Magazine 100 Most Important Persons of The Century [3/1999]
Alan Turing entry at Wikipedia
'Turing machine' entry at Wikipedia
search for books about Alan Turing {returns over 500 titles} at Amazon
'Alan Turing' credits [since 1948] at Internet Movie Database
Alan Turing's Academic Works
"On Computable Numbers" [1937 paper], the origin of the Turing machine concept.
"Systems of Logic Based On Ordinals" PhD thesis at Princeton University [1938] by A.M. Turing
https://webspace.princeton.edu/users/jedwards/Turing%20Centennial%202012/Mudd%20Archive%20files/12285_AC100_Turing_1938.pdf
"The Applications of Probability To Cryptography" [paper circa 1941] by Alan Turing
at The National Archives (United Kingdom): HW 25/37.
"Paper On Statistics of Repetitions" [paper circa 1941] by Alan Turing
The National Archives (United Kingdom): HW 25/38
"Computing Machinery and Intelligence" [1950 paper], the origin of the Turing Test.
"The Chemical Basis of Morphogenesis" [paper 14 August 1952] by Alan M. Turing
among Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London
"The Essential Turing: Seminal Writings in Computing, Logic, Philosophy, Artificial Intelligence, and Artificial..." [11/2004]
by Alan M. Turing & B. Jack Copeland
http://www.amazon.com/Essential-Turing-Philosophy-Artificial-Intelligence/dp/0198250800/
http://www.amazon.com/Essential-Turing-Philosophy-Artificial-Intelligence/dp/B010WFE31Y/
"The Annotated Turing: A Guided Tour Through Alan Turing's Historic Paper On Computability and The Turing Machine"
[6/2008] by Charles Petzold
http://www.amazon.com/Annotated-Turing-Through-Historic-Computability/dp/0470229055/
"Digitized Writing Solutions: Featuring Super-Simplified Composition and Grammar" [6/2015]
by Richard Arnon Mathews & Alan Turing
http://www.amazon.com/Digital-CipherCopy-presents-DIGITIZED-SOLUTIONS/dp/1503235440/
Stageplays, Movies & TV, Other Media
¨ ¨
mystery author Donna Andrews has written four computer mystery novels
starring mainframe A.I.P. {artificial intelligence personality} Turing Hopper
® ®
"Breaking The Code" is a 1986 play by Hugh Whitemore about Alan Turing. The play ran in London's West End beginning in November 1986 and on Broadway from 15 November 1987 to 10 April 1988. There was also a 1996 BBC television production (broadcast in the United States by PBS). In all three performances Turing was played by Derek Jacobi. The Broadway production was nominated for three Tony Awards including Best Actor in a Play, Best Featured Actor in a Play, and Best Direction of a Play, and for two Drama Desk Awards, for Best Actor and Best Featured Actor. Turing was again portrayed by Jacobi in the 1996 television movie adaptation of Breaking the Code.[197] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breaking_the_Code
"The Life and Death(s) of Alan Turing" opera [commissioned 2012]
American Lyric Theater commissioned an operatic exploration of the life and death of Alan Turing in honor of the Turing Centennial, from composer Justine F. Chen and librettist David Simpatico; the opera is a historical fantasia and will receive a concert performance in October 2015 in NYC. In November 2014, the opera and several other artistic works inspired by Turing's life were featured on Studio 360.
"Codebreaker" choral work [April 2014]
Commissioned by the Hertfordshire Chorus from composer James McCarthy; includes settings of texts by the poets Wilfred Owen, Sara Teasdale, Walt Whitman, Oscar Wilde, and Robert Burns that are used to illustrate aspects of Turing's life; premier at the Barbican Centre in London performed by the Hertfordshire Chorus, led by David Temple and featuring soprano soloist Naomi Harvey.
"A Man From The Future" musical work [July 2014]
inspired by Turing's life, written by Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe of the Pet Shop Boys; performed by the Pet Shop Boys and Juliet Stevenson (narrator), the B.B.C. Singers, and the B.B.C. Concert Orchestra conducted by Dominic Wheeler at the B.B.C. Proms at Royal Albert Hall in London.
'Alan Turing' credits [since 1948] at Internet Movie Database
"Codebreaker"aka "Britain's Greatest Codebreaker" TV movie [2011] /tt2119396/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Codebreaker_(film)
official site http://www.turingfilm.com/
"Breaking The Code: The Work of Alan Turing" producer's cut [Princeton Turing Centennial 2012]
http://www.amazon.com/Breaking-Code-Producers-Princeton-Centennial/dp/B00A5WTPN6/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S23yie-779k full movie 1.30.46
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0115749/
"Alan Turing, Le Code de La Vie" [2013] Played by Niels Collins /tt3793720/
"The Imitation Game" [StudioCanal/The Weinstein Company Nov 2014]
  | A reported break-in at his home brings Alan Turing to the attention of the police; the lack of a war record makes them think that Turing might be a Soviet spy, and they begin digging deeper; during an interrogation, Turing relates (via flashback) his secret work on Nazi cyphers at Bletchley Park; the authorities realize that Turing is homosexual, a serious crime in Britain; a conviction halts his government career, and Turing commits suicide • Directed by Morten Tyldum; co-produced & written by Graham Moore, based on the book by Andrew Hodges; starring Benedict Cumberbatch, Keira Knightley, Charles Dance, Mark Strong, Matthew Goode, Rory Kinnear, Allen Leech, Matthew Beard, James Northcote, Tom Goodman-Hill, Steven Waddington, Ilan Goodman, Jack Tarlton, Alex Lawther, Jack Bannon & Tuppence Middle-ton; won Oscar Award for Best Adapted Screenplay; Oscar noms for Best Motion Picture, Best Director, Best Actor {BC}, Best Supporting Actress {KK}, Best Original Music Score, Best Film Editing & Best Production Design; also won A.F.I. Movie of The Year Award, 3 Empire Awards in U.K., GLAAD Media Award, 4 Hollywood Film Awards, USC Scripter Award, W.G.A. Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, plus many film festival awards
Anchor Bay widescreen color Blu-ray [3/2015] for $17.49 Anchor Bay widescreen color DVD [3/2015] for $12.96 full credits at IMDb • official movie site • movie entry at Wikipedia watch official trailers online at YouTube: 7/2014 trailer [2:32] • 9/2014 international trailer [1:48] • 11/2014 trailer [1:06] • 1/2015 trailer [2:16] |
 | "Alan Turing: The Enigma" New York Times bestseller [1983] by Andrew Hodges, Foreword by Douglas Hofstadter 'The Book That Inspired The Film The Imitation Game' Kindle Edition from Princeton Univ Press [11/2014] for $9.99 Princeton Univ Press 8x5 pb [11/2014] for $14.16 Vintage Books 7¾x5¼ pb [11/2014] for $16.41 Simon & Schuster hardcover [11/1983] out of print/used Random House UK hardcover [1/1983] out of print/used | |
 | "The Imitation Game" soundtrack album on CD & MP3 [2014] Composed & conducted by Alexandre Desplat Sony Classical soundtrack CD [11/2014] 21 tracks for $11.96 Sony Japan soundtrack CD [11/2014] out of prodn/used Sony Classical soundtrack MP3 album [11/2014] 21 tracks for $9.99 |
"L'Enigma di Turing" [2016]
Played by Alex Pascoli / Roberto Gregori (as Alan Turing giovane)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3675938/
"Turochamp" video game [1948] /tt9324640/
The world's first chess program was developed by Alan Turing and mathematician David Champernowne; the calculation of one single move took about thirty minutes, which may have been one reason why Turing played only one game with it. In 1952, Alan Turing and his colleague Alick Glennie played a game of chess by using this program; Turing gave up the game after his queen got pinned.
Works About Alan Turing
"Final Episode" [1987] of BBC2-TV documentary show "Micro Live" /tt3556672/
featuring Derek Jacobi {as Alan Turing}
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Micro_Live
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wR08vi64GDQ [49:48]
 | "Ad Infinitum – The Ghost In Turing's Machine: Taking God Out of Mathematics & Putting The Body Back In" [1993] An essay in corporeal semiotics by Brian Rotman "astonishing in its elegance & satisfaction" Stanford Univ Press 9x5½ pb [6/93] for $14.36 Stanford Univ Press hardcover [6/93] for $45.00 |
 | "Turing & The Computer (The Big Idea Series)" [1999] by Paul Strathern Anchor Books 8x5 pb [4/99]for $8.95 |
"Alan Turing: Life and Legacy of A Great Thinker" [Springer-Verlag 2004] edited by Christof Teuscher ISBN 3-540-20020-7
"Inventions That Changed The World" TV episode "Computer" [2004] portrayed by Glynne Steele
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1264464/
"A Madman Dreams of Turing Machines" [2006 novel] contrasts fictionalized accounts of the lives and ideas of Turing and Kurt Gödel
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Madman_Dreams_of_Turing_Machines
"The Man Who Knew Too Much: Alan Turing and The Invention of The Computer" [2006] by David Leavitt
http://www.amazon.com/Man-Who-Knew-Too-Much-ebook/dp/B00AJ3DWDU/
http://www.amazon.com/Man-Who-Knew-Too-Much/dp/0393052362/
"Parsing The Turing Test: Philosophical and Methodological Issues In The Quest For The Thinking Computer" [Springer 1/2008]
Edited by Robert Epstein, Gary Roberts & Grace Beber
http://www.amazon.com/Parsing-Turing-Test-Philosophical-Methodological/dp/1402067089/
"The Turing Enigma" tv [2011]
4/2012 video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_UKd_QGbJwg [1:13:44]
www.theturingenigma.com + http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2074461/
"Turing: Pioneer of The Information Age" lecture at Stanford [5/2012] Published on Sep 10, 2012
Following a three minute introduction by Steven Ericsson-Zenith, Jack Copeland discusses Alan Turing's impact on information
technology. how so many of Turing's ideas lie behind some of information technology's most fundamental theories.
"Alan Turing: Legacy of A Code Breaker" guest lecture by Prof. Jim Al-Khalili, OBE at The University of Edinburgh
6/2012 video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzKzJGmYq3o [1:02:33]
"Greatest Mysteries of World War 2: Hitler's Enigma" {from History Channel}
6/2013 video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_BL0M08-B4 [1:49:22]
"Alan M. Turing: Centenary Edition" [11/2014] by Sara Turing and John F. Turing
http://www.amazon.com/Alan-M-Turing-Centenary-Paperback/dp/B010WFMBQI/
http://www.amazon.com/Alan-M-Turing-Centenary-Hardback/dp/B00FFBDF2Y/
http://www.amazon.com/Alan-M-Turing-Centenary-Sara/dp/1107524229/
Friends & Family
Alan Mathison Turing was born in 1912 in London, England; he was central to Britain's work that broke the Nazi 'Enigma Code' during
World War II; he was convicted of the (then-)crime of homosexuality (ending his government career), and (probably) committed suicide in June 1954.
The British government officially apologized in 2009 for his treatment, and Queen Elizabeth granted him a full pardon in December 2013.
father Julius Mathison Turing [1873-1947]
mother Ethel Sara Stoney Turing [1881-1976]
older brother John Turing []
Alan's 'first love' Christopher Morcom [d. Feb 1930]
studied in the U.S. at Princeton University under Alonzo Church from Sept 1936 to July 1938; received PhD.
studied at Cambridge in 1939 under Ludwig Wittgenstein [1889-1951] (they famously disagreed).
friend & colleague Joan Elisabeth Lowther Clarke (Murray), MBE [1917-96]
L i n k s
Alan Turing entry at Wikipedia
'Turing machine' entry at Wikipedia
search for books about Alan Turing {returns over 500 titles} at Amazon
'Alan Turing' credits [since 1948] at Internet Movie Database
AH's Alan Turing fansite
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/turing/
http://www.kings.cam.ac.uk/library/archives/modern/catalogue/turing/
http://www.turing.org.uk/sources/archive.html
Alan Turing Year
http://www.turingcentenary.eu/
AlanTuring.net – Turing Archive for the History of Computing by Jack Copeland
http://www.alanturing.net/
The Turing Archive –
http://www.turingarchive.org/
here on the computer genius Alan Turing [1912-54] Page at Maison d'Ętre Philosophy Bookstore
top of page •• short profile •• Turing's academic works •• plays, movies & TV, other media •• works about Alan Turing •• friends & family •• links
v v
Visiting this webpage from outside the U.S.A.? It is possible to make purchases from these coded Amazon (USA) links
via other Amazon sites: just follow these instructions.
Online sales in association with 
top of this page •• back to Maison d'Ętre Philosophy Bookstore homepage