What role did Alan Turing play in World War II?

During World War II, Alan Turing was a code breaker for the British government. He worked for the Government Code and Cypher School (GC&CS) at Bletchley Park, Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England. Bletchley Park was the central site for Britain's code breakers. Here, the code breakers regularly penetrated the secret communications of the Axis Powers. Most importantly, the German Enigma and Lorenz ciphers were broken by Turing and other experts at Bletchley Park.

Specifically, Turing used cryptanalysis to breach hidden aspects of security systems and devices to gain access to the contents of encrypted messages, even if the cryptographic key was unknown. It was estimated that Turing's work shortened the war in Europe by as many as two to four years.

Turing lived from June 1912 until June 1954. He died from cyanide poisoning at the age of 41. Some say his death was suicide; others believe that it was accidental.