Alan Turing died on 7 June 1954 in Wilmslow, aged 41. An English mathematician and computer scientist, Turing laid the theoretical foundations of computing with his 1936 paper describing an abstract device, now called the Turing machine. During the Second World War he worked at Bletchley Park and played a leading part in breaking the German Enigma cipher, which helped the Allied war effort. Afterwards he designed an early stored-program computer and, in 1950, proposed the Turing test as a way to consider whether machines can think. In 1952 he was convicted of homosexual acts, then criminal in Britain, and died two years later; he received a royal pardon in 2013.
Before and after
- 1 May 1954Origins of Unification Church
- 6 May 1954Roger Bannister runs the first sub-four-minute mile
- 8 May 1954Founding of Asian Football Confederation
- from 15 May 1954 to 31 July 2012Founding of Latin Union
- 7 June 1954Death of Alan Turing
- 15 June 1954Founding of Union of European Football Associations
- 27 June 1954The first nuclear power plant supplies a grid
- 30 June 1954Birth of Serzh Sargsyan
- 13 July 1954Death of Frida Kahlo
More in Science & technology
- 1945Discovery of promethium
- 1950Discovery of californium
- 1952Discovery of einsteinium
- December 1952Discovery of fermium
- 1958Discovery of nobelium
- June 2002Discovery of oganesson
The era
This moment belongs to the Contemporary world (1945 CE to today), the world since 1945. You can also browse everything in the 20th century.