Synthesis And Rhetorical Analysis: The Great Alan Turing

Persuasive Synthesis and Rhetorical Analysis Paper

“We can only see a short distance ahead, but we can see plenty there that needs to be done.” This is a quote from the great Alan Turing. Turing became one of the most influential leaders in advancement for computer science, cryptology, and computer intelligence while also living a courageous life that fought through discrimination and inequality.

Mathison Turing was a mathematician, computer scientist, logician, cryptanalyst, and theoretical biologist. He was born in London, England to an upper middle class family. He attended the well-known Sherbone School where he displayed high intelligence and a passion for math and science. After Sherbone, he studied at Kings College from 1931 to 1934.

After becoming a fellow of the school and proving the central limit theorem, he travelled to Princeton University to study mathematics, eventually being awarded a PhD in 1938.

He became a fellow here as well after a visiting professor named John Von Neumann wrote a letter to the university that outlined his recommendation for Turing to be accepted into the Proctor Visiting Fellowship (Neumann, John Von). He wrote the letter after he saw the brightness and intelligence in Turing’s work. One year later, Turing is invited to join the Government Codes and Ciphers school at Bletchley Park in Buckinghamshire, England. He develops his version of the Bombe machine and begins decrypting messages sent by the Germans using their enigma machine. On the page “Breaking Enigma” in the Wartime History tab of Bletchley Park’s website (Bletchley Park), “The first operational break into Enigma came around the 23 January 1940, when the team working under Dilly Knox, with the mathematicians John Jeffreys, Peter Twinn and Alan Turing, unraveled the German Army administrative key that became known at Bletchley Park as ‘The Green’.” This was the first step towards breaking the entire German Naval Enigma System, which was accomplished in 1942. The breaking of the Naval Enigma is estimated to have shortened the Battle of the Atlantic by at

least 2 years. After World War Two, Turing publishes a paper with one of the first detailed designs of the stored-program computer and becomes deputy director of the Computer Laboratory at Manchester University. In 1950, he publishes another paper called, “Computing Machinery and Intelligence”, introducing the Turing Test, an evaluation that attempts to figure out if a computer is intelligent or not. This paper becomes very famous. Two years later, Alan Turing is arrested for gross indecency with his partner Arnold Murray (Harrison, Judge J. Fraser). The court gave him a choice between prison and chemical castration. He chose chemical castration in which he was given a hormone that in a years’ time rendered him impotent. The process was a hard thing for Turing to go through. In 1954, Turing is found dead in his Cheshire home with a half-eaten apple next to him. The police concluded that the death was caused by cyanide in the apple which Turing ate with knowledge of the poison in it. All in all, Turing was a great man that deserves more credit than he’s given for cracking the enigma, developing the first computer designs, and living through discrimination.
While learning about Alan Turing, I thought to myself, this guy has had so many road blocks in his life and gets nowhere near the amount of credit he deserves. Alan Turing worked hard to make one of the first computers, the Ferranti Mark 1, because he believed that computers would be the next step in advancing mankind. While working on the Mark the picture to the left was taken, which shows him and two of his colleagues, Brian Pollard and Keith Lonsdale, conversing about the project (Science Museum/SSPL). Turing created a team of several intelligent brains to complete the project rather being selfish and trying to make a computer all by himself. An American magazine journalist also believes that Turing deserves more credit than he has today. In her Independent Magazine entry, “Alan Turing and his machines- fresh insights into the enigma”, Matilda Battersby writes, “Alan Turing, the brilliant, maverick mathematician, widely considered to be the father of computer science and artificial intelligence, invented an electromagnetic machine called the 'bombe' which formed the basis for deciphering Germany’s Enigma codes.” (Battersby, Matilda). The article highlights some of the hard ships and accomplishments that occurred for Turing, arguing that he was one of the most influential people in the field of computer science and cryptology. With all the accomplishments Turing has achieved, from cracking German enigma, designing the first computers, and defining a standard for computer intelligence, he deserves more credit than he has today.
In researching Alan Turing’s death, there are many questions that must be asked about. Some questions that I had were; Did Alan Turing show suicidal thoughts or attitudes? Does Alan Turing use and store cyanide properly in his home experiments? Was the apple tested for cyanide poison? Does the autopsy show that cyanide was more likely inhaled or more likely ingested? All these questions had interesting answers. Turing was not showing suicidal thoughts or feelings in the days and weeks before his death, Turing did use potassium cyanide while gold electroplating spoons in his spare room, and was somewhat careless with storing the poison. After the death, the apple was never tested for cyanide and the autopsy showed that the cyanide was more likely to have been inhaled rather than ingested. With these interesting answers, a different death scenario can be made. Maybe, one day, Turing was electroplating spoons, using the potassium cyanide, and eating his regular apple. He finishes his experiment and is so surprised at the success he has with the plating that he carelessly puts on the lid to cyanide, not screwing it on completely, while storing it. He take a few breaths, unknowingly inhaling the poison, and collapses after 10 seconds, dropping the apple which rolls away from him. Alan Turing has been categorized as having a valiant and discriminated life that ended in his tragic suicide but facts are visible that show that his death was only a clumsy mistake.
Alan Turing had a very studious and hardworking personality that let him achieve so much in the mathematics, computer science, and cryptology fields. One talent that most people don’t know about Alan Turing is his excellent English writing. In reading letters and memos that were written by Turing, a high level of English language is used. In his letter to Winston Churchill regarding the status of breaking German Naval Enigma he says, “The trouble to our mind is that as we are a very small section with numerically trivial requirements it is very difficult to bring home to the authorities…” (Turing, Alan). He stresses to Winston Churchill in the letter that the team is very much understaffed and that the team will not be able to provide the government with the most up to date information on the war. The process of breaking the enigma took a talented and a fully staffed group. Throughout the letter and in the above sentence he uses very persuasive syntax and diction to intrigue and inform the prime minister of England. By saying, “requirements”, Churchill will understand the diction from Turing as meaning that it’s impossible for the mission to continue without more staff. Persuasive sentence structure is in place at the beginning of the sentence when Turing writes, “The trouble to our mid…” By using this kind and gentle syntax instead of saying something like, “The problem at hand…” Churchill is informed of a difficulty while still being treated with respect. The teams use this syntax to appeal to Churchill emotion and persuade him to improve the number of code breaking staff. All in all, Turing’s skill of writing persuasively and cordially let him have the success that he