现代计算机之父出现在钞票上

张倩云

Alan Turing， the man widely recognised as being the father of modern computer science， has been honored by being selected to appear on a United Kingdom banknote. Mr. Turing was chosen ahead of a wealth of notable British historical figures and luminaries1 to be the face of the new ￡50 note. Turing was instrumental in helping Britain and its allies2 win World War II. He led a team of codebreakers to crack the Enigma code3 the Nazis used to send messages to warships and military4 commanders. He invented the now famous British Bombe to do this. This was a giant computer， which ushered in the birth of modern computing and the beginnings of artificial5 intelligence.

Alan Turing was a mathematical genius who also excelled in the sciences. He was born in London in 1912. He graduated from Cambridge University and then outlined his vision for creating an algorithm-based6 computing machine. He said of his invention， “This is only a foretaste of what is to come， and only the shadow of what is going to be.” His idea is central to the computers we use today. His brilliance led to his being asked to join the WWII code-breaking team. Despite his pivotal role in ending that war， he was persecuted7 in the post-war years for being homosexual8. Being gay was illegal in the UK until 1967. Turing died in 1954， aged 41， in an apparent suicide.

艾伦·图灵，被公认为现代计算机科学之父，他因此荣誉而被选中出现在了英国的钞票上。图灵先生在众多著名的英国历史人物和名人中脱颖而出，被選为新发行的50英镑纸币上的人物。图灵在帮助英国及其盟国在二战中获胜发挥了重要作用。他带领一个破译小组破解了纳粹用来向军舰和军事指挥官发送信息的恩尼格玛密码。他发明了现在著名的英国“炸弹机”来做这件事。这是一台大型计算机，它引导了现代计算机的诞生和人工智能的开始。

艾伦·图灵是一个数学天才，在科学方面也很出色。他于1912年出生在伦敦。他毕业于剑桥大学，然后描述了他创建的基于算法的计算机的愿景。他谈到他的发明时说：“这只是对未来的预感，也是未来的影子。”他的想法是我们今天使用的计算机的核心。他因才华而被要求加入二战破译组。尽管他在结束那场战争的过程中发挥了关键作用，但在战后，他因同性恋者身份而受到迫害。在1967年之前，在英国同性恋是违法的。图灵于1954年自杀身亡，享年41岁。