It is said that Alan Turing, who also became the model for the movie "The Imitation Game", is said to have succeeded in breaking the Nazi German code "Enigma".
ASD genius
As depicted in the movie, Alan Turing is likely to have been an ASD (High Performance Autism Spectrum Disorder).
While he was a talented student in mathematics and science, he was not interested in classics, so he was not granted a scholarship to Trinity College in Cambridge, where Newton was also enrolled, and he entered Kings College in Cambridge as well. be.
This part may be similar to Einstein, who was almost scoreless except for mathematics and science.
During his college days he presented a computational model called the "Turing Machine" and spent his PhD in Princeton, USA. During this period, Princeton also had John von Neumann, who is said to be the creator of computers, and it is said that there was a friendship between the two.
He returned to England before and after the beginning of World War II, and when World War II began he was engaged in cryptanalysis missions.
At that time, the Allied Powers could not decipher the ciphertext Enigma produced by the Nazis, but it was successfully deciphered by Turing's deciphering system called "bombe", and there is an opinion that the Second World War was shortened by several years by deciphering the Enigma. There is.
By the way, as I met the movie, the Allies said that they had succeeded in deciphering the Enigma but laid it down. In fact, the Germans continued to use the Enigma until surrender and seemed unaware that it had been deciphered.
Arrest and death
One day a thief entered Turing's house. As a result, Turing was arrested.
I don't know what he's saying, but Turing was gay. He had a relationship with a young man, whose birth year was a guide to Turing's home.
This would have been surprising to Turing. When he asked for a thief's investigation, he invited the thief because he was arrested because he was dismissed.
Homosexuality was a crime in England at that time. Britain is not a free country unlike the United States. Since it is not accompanied by a change in politics, the laws stipulated in the Middle Ages are still valid.
In England at that time, homosexuals were treated rather than punished by giving female hormones. As a result, Alan Turing committed suicide.
It was the death of the hero who led World War II to victory, but the public did not know it because the decipherment of the Enigma was a secret matter for a long time. In other words, only one of the mathematicians committed suicide in the world.
Research is the result of years or even decades.
Twelve years after Turing, AMC, an association of computer scientists, established a new award to recognize those who have made achievements in the computer field, and named the award the Turing Award.
The fact that the Enigma was solved by Turing's achievements became known only in the 1970s, and it was broadcast in publications, plays, and television.
In the process, Turing was valued and his honor was restored.
In 2013, Queen Elizabeth II officially pardoned Alan Turing, his sins disappeared, and in 2019 it was decided that Alan Turing would be adopted for the new £ 50 bill.