Alan Turing

Alan Turing is considered the father of the computer.  He envisioned and designed the Turing machine, which was a device that could be given a certain set of rules that could be programmed to compute or solve an infinite number of problems.  He really was one of the most important people and his work with pushing the boundaries of mathematics and computers was the start of the digital revolution. 

Turing also designed the programming system of the worlds first commercially sold electronic computer, the Ferranti Mark 1. This is a huge deal because before this computers were not available commercially at the time, they were only for businesses that could afford them and had the space for them which could take up many rooms.  Turing's work also proved to be an extremely effective contribution to defeating the Nazis.

 

"Turing arguably made a greater contribution to defeating the Nazis than Eisenhower or Churchill. Thanks to Turing and his 'Ultra' colleagues at Bletchley Park, allied generals in the field were consistently, over long periods of the war, privy to detailed German plans before the German generals had time to implement them."

Richard Dawkins August 2009 

 

Despite Turing's remarkable work, he did not receive the recognition he deserved because of his sexual orientation.  When his house got broken into by a gay man that he was there with previously, he reported it to the police who then proceeded to arrest Turing because homosexuality was illegal at the time.  Because of his marvelous work they offered him "treatment" rather than imprisonment.  The hormone treatment to rid him of his homosexuality caused horrible side effects and eventually he could not focus his study on artificial intelligence anymore which eventually led to his unfortunate suicide.