turing-contributions

Turing went from drawing up a basic model for all computers to breaking down the constructs of complex chemical reactions with enviable ease. By 1943 the tide had turned – Alan Turing had developed the Naval Bombe, an adaptation of his decryption Bombe device capable of laying bare the secrets of the complex German Naval Enigma. Turing and his colleague Gordon Welchman built on the Polish machine at Bletchley Park. Turing and Church together hypothesised the idea of a universal Turing machine, a machine which could read and perform any algorithmic function – that is, a Turing machine that can simulate the algorithmic functions of any other Turing machine.