Alan Turing's Accomplishments

Alan Turing is why we have modern computers. He invented the first ever modern computer and his creation is the source of your Chromebook, iPhone, and even your microwave. Alan Turing was an inventor, leader, and innovator who did many things in his cut-short life. Alan Turing is deserving of an honorary spot on the postage stamp because he created unique ideas in science and technology, developed new inventions, and authored works that are still referenced today.

Alan Turing should be honored with the stamp because of his advancement of technology and science. While most famous for his technological innovations, one of Turing’s most important contributions was creating a whole new domain of biology. “Even as a child, Turing saw life through

One of his most exceptional creations was the code-breaking machine named Bombe. Invented by Touring and a group of other scientists, Bombe was crucial in deciphering intercepted German messages during World War II. The German messages were encoded by an Enigma machine but Bombe was able to decipher these messages after they were intercepted in transit by the Allies. At its peak, 84,000 messages a month were able to be deciphered using the Bombe (Copeland). It can be reasonably concluded that the amount of intelligence that was able to be deciphered played a major role in the war effort, saving the lives of numerous soldiers and sailors. This invention alone should be rightfully honored by placing Turing on a postage stamp. Alan Turing did not stop after just inventing one thing and continued to introduce his ideas to society. “[Alan Turing’s] design for the Automatic Computing Engine (ACE) was the first complete specification of an electronic stored-program all-purpose digital computer” (Copeland). Unlike the other early computers, the ACE computer would have been both faster and had much greater amounts of memory, creating a more powerful computational device. However, his fellow engineers at the National Physical Laboratory thought that the engineering was simply too difficult, and the machine was never built. The innovation that had the biggest impact might be Turing Machines. “Turing

Turing was responsible for the first-ever written programming manual, written as part of the ENIAC program. This simple programming manual was essential in the production of other programming manuals and helpful media that would assist future aspiring programmers for years to come. Turing may not have intended the result for the first-ever programming manual, but Turing's contribution has still been incredibly beneficial and is another justification for why Turing should be featured on a postage stamp. Turing authored various scientific papers as well. “It was in [his] 1950 paper (Computing machinery and intelligence in Mind.) that he proposed the Turing Test.” The Turing Test is the most widely used test to determine if a computer is intelligent. Turing also published papers in the field of mathematics. “[Turing’s] thesis, ‘On the Gaussian Error Function,’ … proved the central limit theorem of probability theory…” (Gale In Context Online Collection). While just a simple scientific paper, it shows the brilliance of Alan Turing and his ability to advance others can not be