Meet Alan Turing: The Imitation Game

The universal machine

In 1936, to settle a question in pure logic, Turing imagined a machine that could read, write, and follow rules on an infinite tape — and proved one such machine could imitate any other. Every phone, laptop, and server since is that thought made silicon.

Bletchley and after

At Bletchley Park his Bombe machines broke naval Enigma, work historians credit with shortening the war by years — done in total secrecy he carried to his grave. The country he helped save prosecuted him for being gay; his pardon came six decades too late. Precision of thought, and the cost of a society that punishes difference: both are his legacy.

Why they belong at your table

Seat him to turn a fuzzy question into a precise one. 'Can machines think?' became an experiment in his hands; your vaguest problem can too.