c. 1232-1315

Spanish Alchemist and Scholar

Ramon Llull, also known as Raymond Lully, was a quintessential medieval figure: passionate in faith and love, eager to tilt at windmills, a believer in alchemy and its attendant mysticism. Yet from the landscape of Llull's mind, shadowed as it was by superstition and extra-scientific lore, emerged the conceptual prototype for the most modern of all machines. Nearly seven centuries before Alan Mathison Turing (1912-1954) proposed his "Turing machine," helping to usher in the computer age, Llull suggested the idea of a machine that could generate objective truths.

Born on the island of Majorca, Llull was the son of a Spanish knight who had received an estate from John I of Aragon. The teenaged Llull was given the title "Seneschal of the Isles," but he soon fell into disrepute for his licentious behavior. Among the many women he romanced was...