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. Turing demonstrated you could construct a single Universal Machine that could simulate any Turing Machine. Turing designed an electromechanical machine, called the Bombe, that searched through the permutations, and by the end of the war the British were able to read all daily German Naval Enigma traffic. He devised the Turing Test: A judge sitting at a computer terminal types questions to two entities, one a person and the other a computer. If the judge is wrong the computer has passed the Turing Test and is intelligent.

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?