Alan Turing is the “father” of computer science. In 1936 he invented the “Turing Machine”. A Turing machine is a mathematical model of computation describing an abstract machine that manipulates symbols on a strip of tape according to a table of rules and it is capable of implementing any computer algorithm. During World War II, he played a key role in the development of a technique to decipher encrypted German messages - this story is told in the movie “The Imitation Game”. After the war he developed the blueprint for stored-program computers. At the University of Manchester he pioneered the first steps of Artificial Intelligence and developed an experiment to test when AI will be equivalent to human intellect. We know it as the “Turing Test” but he called it the imitation game. Despite all his contributions his life had a tragic ending: he was arrested and prosecuted for “gross indecency” in 1952 when authorities discovered he was gay. To avoid going to prison, he agreed to estrogen injections in an attempt to curb his libido. He was also denied work with GCHQ, the successor to Bletchley Park, because of his sexual orientation. Two years after his conviction, on June 7, 1954 he committed suicide by eating an apple containing cyanide. He was 41 years old. Today, the most prestigious award in computer science, the Turing Award is named in his honour.