Problem Solving with a Mastermind

May 2021

This is a touch on the story of Alan Turing, someone achieved the seemingly impossible at the time.

Source: Jecinci

Alan Turing was an English mathematician, computer scientist, logician, cryptanalyst, philosopher, and theoretical biologist.

If this article was just about a historical perspective of a scientist’s life, that would be the an appropriate opening sentence.

Well, rather than a straight information bombardment, this post was written with the idea of linking events from Turing’s life.

Made on Blender by Yours Truly.

Let’s jump in.

1. The Foundation

A mathematician in making.

Although he looks like an ordinary kid born in London, Turing’s interest in mathematics was going to lead him to different adventures. Differential & Integral Calculus enabled him to verify the motion laws of scientists such as Newton in the light of mathematics.

At the age of 16 and he was spending his days calculating & proof-checking Einstein’s theories because of the curiosity he had. After graduating from high school, Turing was accepted to Cambridge University and completed his school in three years and started his academic life in the same school thanks to his thesis on the Central Limit Theorem.

To learn about Central Limit Theorem with Dragons, from Dr. Nic

2. The Product

Construction from Knowledge.

The paper Turing wrote under the main heading of “Computable Numbers” in 1936 was aimed at decision-making problems, that is, the brain to function mathematically and automatically.

But what he referred the brain was not the human brain, but a machine brain.

Exploring uncharted territory in science for his time, continued relentlessly for Alan Turing. What really made his name known as a leading scientist are Turing machines, which he named himself.

It is one of the cornerstones of linguistics under “Automation and Algorithm Analysis” which constitute an important part of computer science.

Modern Implementation of Turing Machine — Mike Davey

At the time, machines that increased with industrialization, did not work more efficiently because of the automation errors and unpredictable work accidents in places where the people did not control the machines directly.

But Turing proved with this machine that these problems are now computable with an application. So it was the key to self-powered smart machines that fix all errors.

Turing, who proved this proof of concept in a short time, claimed that any mathematical calculation could also be done with his own virtual machine.

A self-powered machines that fix errors.

The Turing machine has formed the basis of today’s calculation systems and has signed the infrastructure of all electronic devices that come out with this calculation method.

3. The Masterpiece

Graham Bell’s Telephone or Steve Jobs’ Mac.

Due to the outbreak of the Second World War, Britain wanted to use all the means it had to fight Nazi Germany. So they asked Turing to work out (or break) the Enigma machine, the Germans were using at the time.

Enigma is a encryption or decryption device developed and used in the early- to mid-20th century to protect commercial, diplomatic, and military communication. It was believed to be unbreakable, which is why Germans used it in communication with their top-secret information in the WW2.

Enigma - Hands on with Numberphile

Turing’s contribution in this field lasted for three years, by signing high-level code breaking transactions with Dilly Knox, the most famous crypto expert of the period. He received classified information from the enemy as he became a scientist working for his own country, believing he was doing the right thing.

In the name of “Breaking the Code” and “Solving an Impossible Problem”, the initial design of electro-mechanical machine named Bombe was produced by Alan Turing at 1939.

Bombe at Bletchley Park

The feature of the Bombe is that it automatically detects protected messages and obtains them without getting stuck in the message traffic, that is, without the enemy’s knowledge. It is a system that has an infrastructure that will inspire someone in mathematics and software, and immediately access information that will change the direction of war as the most advanced of code breaking machines.

Bombe in Action (Fred C.)

Turing’s biggest role in the war, saved the lives of approximately 15 million people by using only mathematical science with this device.

Needless to say, Alan Turing is one of the most respected scientist of his generation. And he build his legacy with the work he’s done, resulting global impact.

NVIDIA named their GPU’s micro-architecture for Geforce GTX 16xx and Geforce RTX 20xx series, that is still sold and used Worldwide.

If you would like learn more about Alan Turing, you can take a look at Academy Award Winner “The Imitation Game” starring Benedict Cumberbatch.

Also see the bite sized article from BBC about his life which is a great read.

Stay curious.