100 years of Alan Turing - the Father of Computer Science

Abstract

Alan Mathison Turing was born in London on 23 June 1912 as recorded by a blue plaque on the outside of the house of his birth, later the Colonade Hotel. His parents wanted their children to be brought up in England, so they moved to Maida Vale. His father Julius Mathison Turing was a member of an old aristocratic family of Scottish descent who worked for the Indian Civil Service (ICS). Julius’s wife was Ethel Sara, daughter of E W Stoney, chief engineer of the Madras Railways. The Stoneys were Protestant Anglo-Irish Gentry family, while Ethel herself spent much of her childhood in County Clare, she was later educated in Dublin. Turing had an elder brother, John. Very early in life Turing showed signs of genius - he was later to display prominently. His parents enrolled him at St. Michael’s and St. Leonards on Sea at the age of six. At the age of 13, he went on to Sherburne School. From his childhood days he was marked as a talented boy.