The Paternity of the Modern Computer

• Published in: Foundations of science Vol. 27; no. 3; pp. 1029 - 1040
• Main Authors: Lara, Juan A., Pazos, Juan, de Sojo, Aurea Anguera, Aljawarneh, Shadi
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Springer Netherlands 01-09-2022; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Computers; Design; Education; History; Mathematical Logic and Foundations; Methodology of the Social Sciences; Paternity; Philosophy; Philosophy of Science; Science; Turing, Alan; Spain; Computer science; Alan turing; Artificial intelligence; Modern computer; Turing machine
• ISSN: 1233-1821; 1572-8471
• DOI: 10.1007/s10699-021-09797-y

In recent decades, there has been a proliferation among the scientific community of works that focus on Alan Turing’s contributions to the design and development of the modern computer. However, there are significant discrepancies among these studies, to such a point that some of them cast serious doubts on Alan Turing’s work with respect to today’s computer, and there are others that staunchly defend his leading role, as well as other studies that set out more well-balanced opinions. Faced with this situation, the aim of this paper is to analyse the evidence existing today in order to be able to draw a conclusion about whether or not Turing anticipated the trivialisation of the modern computer memory and, likewise, if his universal a-machine is the precursor of the general-purpose computer so omnipresent today. As a result of our research, the authors conclude that Turing did indeed play a leading role in the appearance of the modern computer, although he was not the only one or the first in the field of Computing Science, albeit he was the most influential, both in scope and in depth.