Alan Turing

Alan Turing is a British mathematician who has been called the father of computer science. During World War II, Turing bent his brain to the problem of breaking Nazi crypto-code and was the one to finally unravel messages protected by the infamous Enigma machine. He is known as the first true computer scientist and has also written outstanding papers on computing that are still affective and also formulated the Turing test which is still applicable for evaluation of computers ²intelligence².

Alan Turing was instrumental in the development of the modern day computer. His design for a so-called "Turing machine" remains central to how computers operate today. The Turing test is an exercise in artificial intelligence that tests how well an AI (Artificial Intelligence) program operates.

English scientist Alan Turing was born Alan Mathison Turing on June 23, 1912, in Maida Vale, London, England. At a young age, he displayed signs of high intelligence. When Turing attended the well-known independent Sherborne School at the age of 13, he became particularly interested in math and science.

After Sherborne, Turing enrolled at King’s College (University of Cambridge) in Cambridge, England, studying there from 1931 to 1934.

He received his PhD from Princeton University in 1938.

He made five major advances in the field of cryptanalysis including specifying the bomb, an electromechanical device used to help decipher German Enigma encrypted signals.

Alan Turing’s career and life ended tragically when he was arrested and prosecuted for being gay. On June 8, 1954, Alan Turing was found dead of apparent suicide by his cleaning lady.

5. René Descartes

“I think; therefore I am.”

René Descartes was a French philosopher, writer, mathematician and physicist. He was named as the ²Father of Modern Philosophy², due to his well-known ²Cogito Ergo Sum² philosophy.

He was born on March 31, 1596 in La Haye, a small town in central France, which has since been renamed after him to honour its most famous son.

He was extensively educated, first at a Jesuit college at the age of 8, then he earned a law degree at 22 at the University of Poitiers.

His investigations in theoretical physics led many scholars to consider him a mathematician first.

Descartes’s influence in mathematics is equally apparent. One of his most lasting contribution is Cartesian coordinate system or analytical geometry. He invented the method of representing the unknowns in the equations by x, y and z or in the form of a, b and c. The introduction of Cartesian geometry has drastically changed the way distances are measured because points are now expressed as points on the graph. He also invented the standard notion that helps to show the exponents of powers. He is credited as the father of analytical geometry, the bridge between algebra and geometry, crucial to the discovery of infinitesimal calculus and analysis. Newton and Leibniz calculus were based on his work.

Descartes died of a bout of pneumonia in Stockholm, Sweden, on February 11, 1650.

Euclid

Euclid of ²Alexandria² was born around 330 BC, presumably at Alexandria. Not much is even known about Euclid’s appearance, and the sculptures or paintings seen today are mere products of the imagination of artists of how Euclid could have been. There have been certain documents that suggest that Euclid studied in Plato’s ancient school in Athens, where only the opulent studied. He later shifted to Alexandria in Egypt, where he discovered a well-known division of mathematics, known as geometry.

Euclid was known as the ²Father of Geometry² for a reason. He discovered the subject and gave it its value, making it one of the most complex forms of mathematics at the time.

He was known as the forerunner of geometrical knowledge and went on to contribute greatly in the field of mathematics. Also known as, the ²Father of Geometry², Euclid was known to have taught the subject of mathematics in Ancient Egypt during the reign of Ptolemy I. He was well-known, having written the most permanent mathematical works of all time, known as the Elements that comprised the 13 gigantic volumes filled with geometrical theories and knowledge. Euclid used the 'synthetic approach' towards producing his theorems, definitions and axioms in math.

The Elements sold more copies than the Bible and was used and printed countless times by mathematicians and publishers who have used the information even up to the 20^th century. There was no end to Euclid’s geometry, and he continued to develop theorems on various aspects of math such as ²prime numbers² and other, basic ²arithmetic². The system that Euclid went on to describe in the Elements was commonly known as the only form of geometry the world had witnessed and seen up until the 19^th century. He concluded the principles of Euclidean geometry from a small set of axioms. Optics, ratios, data and conics are some of his other reputed works which are now lost with the mists of time.

Euclid logically and scientifically developed Mathematical formats of antiquity that are known to the world as Euclidian Geometry today.

He also wrote five other surviving works about spherical geometry, perspective number theory, conic sections and rigor. Very little information is known about his life and what he had written very earlier due to limited resources at that time.

The year and reason behind Euclid’s death is unknown to mankind. However, there have been vague appropriations that suggest that he might have perished around 260 BC. The legacy he left behind after his death was far more profound than the impression he created when he was alive. His books and treatises were sold and used by personalities all over the world up until the 19^th century.

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