How Alan Turing Invented the Computer Age

In 1936, whilst studying for his Ph.D. at Princeton University, the English mathematician Alan Turing published a paper, "On Computable Numbers, with an application to the Entscheidungsproblem," which became the foundation of computer science. In it Turing presented a theoretical machine that could solve any problem that could be described by simple instructions encoded on a paper tape. One Turing Machine could calculate square roots, whilst another might solve Sudoku puzzles. Turing demonstrated you could construct a single Universal Machine that could simulate any Turing Machine. One machine solving any problem, performing any task for which a program could be written--sound familiar?